Feb. 10, 2008
By Matt Daniels, Citizen Tribune

Playing from behind at halftime has been uncharted waters for Walters State this season at home, but the Senators responded in fantastic form Saturday afternoon.

Walters State put together their finest second half of the year, shooting 70 percent from the floor and limiting Chattanooga State for much of the closing 20 minutes to grab a 104-90 victory over the visiting Tigers at ‘Z’ Buda Gymnasium.

With the win, the Senators increased their winning steak to 21 games, and they improved to 24-1 overall and 11-1 in TJCCAA action. The win also clinched a first round bye in the Region VII Tournament in March.

The loss drops Chattanooga State to 9-8 for the year and 5-7 in conference play.

After a subpar defensive effort in the first half, Walters State coach Bill Carlyle challenged his team to be more aggressive in the second half, and they certainly answered the call.

“I told the guys that Chatt would come out and be aggressive, but we just weren’t ready to play early on,” Carlyle said.

“It took a real good rear-end chewing at halftime to get their attention, and we came out and play very well. We played more under control and was more patient, and we got their zone spread out and took advantage on the inside.”

Both teams were intent on running the floor in the first half, and Chattanooga got the best of the Senators midway through the half.

Trailing 20-19, Antonio Reese dropped in seven points in a fourminute span that helped Chattanooga take a 34-23 lead with 8:18 remaining in the frame.

Walters State battled evenly with the Tigers for the remainder of the half, and a late trey by Sirlester Martin cut the deficit to 49-42 at the half.

“In the first half, we shot too many outside shots and didn’t go to the inside and attack the basket,” Carlyle said.

“We let their zone get really compact, and we didn’t spread them out. I felt like we did a good job of that from the beginning in the second half.”
The Senators attacked the middle of the zone in the second half, and Martin stepped his game up in a big way.
Coming off of struggles in the past three games, Martin found his groove once again by pumping in nine points by the 16:36 mark, and Terrance Britt mailed a trey that pulled Walters State into a 55-all tie with 15:29 left in the game.

The trey by Britt sparked a 12-0 run that gave the Senators a ninepoint lead, and the lead remained in that range until Walters State knocked out the Tigers with a barrage of dunks.

Laquantis Stewart converted two alley-oops, and Michael Jenkins added three dunks — including a running one-handed slam that brought the crowd to their feet — to push the lead to 93-71 with 2:27 to go.

“We came out in the second half and got fired up, especially after coach told us that we were going to lose if we didn’t pick it up,” Jenkins said.

“We definitely didn’t want that, and we had a real bad taste in our mouths from the last game with Chatt. So it was only right that we get the victory.”

Chattanooga State never quit, and they put 19 points on the board in the final two minutes, but they never cut the lead below 10 points the rest of the way.

Walters State shot 55.1 percent (38-of-69) from the field in the contest, and they had 27 assists to go with the 38 field goals.

The Senators placed six players in double figures, and they were led by A.J. Thomas with 23 points. Stewart (21), Martin (18), Jenkins (17), Chris Talley (11), and Britt (10) all had double digits, and Martin added 13 rebounds for another double-double.

WSCC also outrebounded the Tigers, 43-30, in the contest.

Jordan Lee paced Chattanooga State with 27 points, while Greg Brown added 22 and Reese had 21 in the loss. Reese was limited to just two points in the second half.

The Senators will return to action Wednesday night when they host the Raiders of Roane State at ‘Z’ Buda Gymnasium. Scheduled start time is set for 8 p.m.