Courtesy of Albany State Sports Information
69
Albany St. (GA) 9-19,7-14 SIAC
80
Winner Lane 12-16,8-12 SIAC
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albany St. (GA) | 24 | 45 | 69 |
| Lane | 36 | 44 | 80 |
SAVANNAH, Ga. – The Golden Rams charged hard until the end to kick off tournament week. Albany State fell behind midway in the first half and charged hard in the second half, but Lane College held down the stretch to take the 80-69 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament First Round Sunday decision.
The two Conference foes traded short runs midway in the first 20 minutes until the Dragons netted nine consecutive points to push ahead by double digits, 32-18, with 5:30 before half.
Trailing by as many as 15 points in the opening minutes of the second half, ASU (9-19) turned up the heat with 11 minutes left. Terin Wofford downed a jumper and added a pair of free throws on the next possession for a six-point margin, 51-45, at 10:26 remaining. Wofford cut the margin back to six again, 53-47, less than a minute later, but Lane answered with nine of the following 11 tallies to hold on in the final five minutes of play.
Shakur Poteat garnered top honors for the Golden Rams with 19 points, including four 3-pointers and 5 of 6 free throws, four rebounds and a pair of steals. Wofford was right behind him with 18 points on 6 of 13 from the floor and 6 of 8 from the charity stripe, while swiped three balls, handed out a pair of assists and blocked two shots. Blaise Wallace was the third double figure scorer with 13 points on 4 of 8 attempts with a 3-pointer.
Playing in what turned out to be their final ASU games, Jordan Simpson and Reggie James both had their usual solid efforts. Simpson connected on 4 of 9 shots for eight points and pulled down eight rebounds. Off the bench, James contributed nine points, eight boards and three assists of his own.
The Dragons were led by Floyd Williams and Darrell Johnson with 18 and 17 points, respectively.
After Lane made the opening bucket, Wallace drained an ASU 3-pointer for the lone lead of the night at 3-2 only 1:25 into the day. Lane made the following pair of baskets and led the final 38 minutes of play.
ASU did answer a quick 7-0 Lane spurt with its own seven points in a row to take it back to a one-possession score at 16-14 at 11:39. The Dragons put together the next seven tallies again, before Wofford cut the difference down to five points, 23-18, with 8:21 left in the first half, which would be the closest his team would get the rest of the night.
Team Statistics
| Game Stats | ASU | Lane |
|---|---|---|
| FG% | .369 | .500 |
| 3FG% | .278 | .267 |
| FT% | .667 | .667 |
| RB | 36 | 42 |
| TO | 10 | 13 |
| STL | 8 | 8 |
