Brunswick, Ga. – The College of Coastal Georgia men's basketball team fell for the second time this season to defending NAIA national champion Dalton State on Thursday night, dropping a 67-60 decision to the Roadrunners at Howard Coffin Gym.
Dalton State (15-10, 7-7), which came here having lost seven of its last nine, had beaten the Mariners 65-61 on Jan. 28 at home.
Coastal Georgia was hoping to notch its second win a row and take a huge step toward grabbing one of the final spots in the postseason conference tournament with a win over the Roadrunners. Instead, the Mariners will have to try and take that step Saturday when they welcome Middle Georgia State, a 90-86 winner Thursday evening over Brewton-Parker, to town for the annual Homecoming Game which also will serve as Senior Day as the Mariners close out the home schedule.
The Mariners are a game ahead of Blue Mountain and Brewton-Parker in the league standings. The bottom two teams will not qualify for the SSAC tournament. Coastal Georgia will finish up the season at Brewton-Parker, Faulkner and Auburn-Montgomery after Saturday's game against the Knights.
In Thursday's loss, the Mariners got a game-best 17 points and 10 rebounds from Dominic Early, who has been the league's leading scorer most of the season. Jamaal Rhodes, who was coming off a 35-point performance last Saturday in a home win over Brewton-Parker, also scored 17 points and had eight boards for Coastal Georgia.
Derrick Frye added 10 points. Corey Harris finished with five assists.
For the Roadrunners, Jalen Robinson led the way with 15 points. Marcel Hawkins and Reed Dungan both finished with 14. Rudy Winters added 10 points.
The Mariners doomed themselves with 29 turnovers including 21 before halftime which played a huge role in a first-half rally by the Roadrunners who fell behind 23-7 after a cold start. However, the visitors used defensive stops in the final 9:24 before halftime to overtake the Mariners and build a 32-26 lead before taking a 32-29 advantage into intermission.
In the second half, the largest lead was seven points by Dalton State twice before it won by that same margin.
The Roadrunners led 60-54 with 3:37 left when Marquice Jones made a three-pointer to get the Mariners within three.
But following a turnover by the visitors, the Marines also turned over the ball leading to an old-fashion three-point play by Winters who scored in the paint and added a foul shot for a 63-57 cushion.
The Mariners got within 63-60 on a Derrick Frye driving layup and an Early free throw and had the ball with a chance to tie after a Dalton State turnover with 1:12 to go. However, a good look at a three-pointer from the top of the key by Jones didn't fall for the Mariners and the home team's chances were all but over then.
The Roadrunners scored the game's final four points.
The Mariners outrebounded the visitors 40-33, but Dalton State committed just 11 turnovers and shot made more free throws (14-of-20) than Coastal Georgia took as it was 8-for-12 for the night from the line.
