Dalton State falls to Life in SSAC tourney quarterfinals

Published 2:00 pm Thursday, February 29, 2024

After dropping its regular season finale in Marietta on Saturday, Dalton State College got another shot at Life on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament.

The third-seeded Life University Running Eagles snuffed out that second chance, defeating the sixth-seeded Roadrunners 81-76 Thursday in Montgomery, Alabama, to likely bring Dalton State’s season to an end.

Life (21-8, 15-6 SSAC) moves on to the SSAC semis tonight, while Dalton State finishes the year at 15-13 and 11-10 in the conference.

Dalton State fought against Life, a team that beat the Roadrunners twice this season, to the very end. A tight contest saw neither team lead by more than seven as the Roadrunners clawed to save their season.

The game saw 11 overall lead changes, and Dalton State tied the game at 12 different points.

The game was tied at 34 at halftime. Two free throws by Life’s Shomik Shajahan pulled Life ahead by that seven-point margin with 1:11 to go. An Allon Johnson layup for Dalton State moved the advantage to five, and Donavan Miller cut it to four with free throws with 40 seconds left at 76-74 after Life added one free throw.

The Running Eagles ran it back up to seven with 16 seconds left, and two late buckets by Miller and Johnson weren’t enough to keep pace with Life as the Roadrunners sent the Running Eagles to the free throw line.

Life’s Joshua Ward piled up 33 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to help Life to the win. Nathan Presnell scored 17 points, and Dara Olonade scored 11.

Miller had 19 to lead the Roadrunners. Ellis Lee scored 17, Matt Compas scored 12 and Harrison Eghan put in 10 points and had seven boards.

Dalton State shot well from the floor overall at 45.6%, including a 55.6% mark in the second half, but a 2-for-14 mark from 3-point range didn’t do the Roadrunners any favors. Life had a similar problem from outside, going 52.8% from the field but making just 3-for-15 from deep.

The Roadrunners were unable to complete the upset win despite playing a clean game. The Roadrunners turned the ball over just six times while forcing 13 Life turnovers and converting those into 20 points.

Dalton State wraps up the season having lost five of its last six games.