Dragons Win Back-To-Back Road Games

The Dragons took to the road for two big road wins against non-conference opponents after a five game home series. The Dragons handed Columbus State their first loss of the season in a weekend tournament hosted by Miles College in Birmingham, AL.

Game 1 Columbus State:

The action was fast and furious in the first half of play as neither team was able to establish a lead of more than seven points at any time. The Dragons scored five points at the end of the first half to cut the Cougar's lead 36-35 at halftime.

The Dragons relied on timely free throw shooting and creating turnovers in the second half to gain the lead that would carry them to victory. The Dragons forced 14 turnovers and connected on 14-of-19 (73.7%) of their free throws. The Dragons won the battle of the boards 46-38 that also played a critical role in the outcome.

The Cougars had three players reach double-digit point totals with Demarcus McVay leading with 17 points and Cam Baker collecting 16, and Brentine Taylor adding 11. For the Dragons, Terrance Bridgeman led all scoring, popping 23 points while Kendarius Ash collected another conference leading double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Joseph Cooper also had a double-double night for the Dragons as he collected 12 points and 11 boards.

With the 74-69 victory, the Dragons moved to 4-6 overall and 2-1 in the SIAC, while the Cougars moved to 6-1 overall. The Dragons travel to Marrow, GA for their next game, which will be a rematch against the Lakers of Clayton State University.

Game 2 Clayton State University: 

The Dragons took to the road to Marrow, GA for a rematch contest against the Clayton State University Lakers. The Lakers defeated the Dragons 80-54 back in November in a contest played at J. F. Lane Gymnasium. The Dragons were hoping for a different look and outcome from the previous contest. The different look was what the Dragons got as they were involved in a game that was tied twelve times and saw fourteen lead changes through the contest.

The first half was mainly a back-and-forth effort on both teams as they had scoring runs to battle back each time. With the score tied 8-8 early in the first half, the Dragons posted a 10-3 run to take an 18-11 lead for the moment. The Lakers came back with a scoring run of 17-0 over the next few minutes to regain the lead 28-18. The Dragons regrouped and closed out an 11-0 run for another lead change 29-28. Both teams managed three points each to finish off the first half with the Dragons carrying a one point 32-31 lead into halftime.

The second half was much like the first as both teams took charge of the game for short periods. The last tie of the game came with 1:18 left to play in regulation when the score was knotted 74-74. The Dragons remained hot from the free throw area to help finish off the 78-75 victory.

Leading the Lakers in scoring was Saiquan Terry who connected on 6-of-8 three-pointers for 22 points. Alfonso Davis added 13 points for the Lakers in the defeat. The Dragons collected 18 points off turnovers and added another 20 points on second chance shots to help in the victory. Terrance Bridgeman, who did not play in the first contest, added 25 points for the Dragons to lead all scoring. Kendarius Ash and Joseph Cooper narrowly missed double-doubles for a second game in a row as they had 12 points and 9 boards, and 11 points and 8 rebounds, respectively.

The Dragons move to 5-6 overall and 2-1 in the SIAC, and will finish out the first half of the season with a two-game trip to Florida before the Christmas break.