Jan. 31, 2008
By Brian Trent, Citizen Tribune

 HARRIMAN, TENN. — It wasn’t the best exhibition of basketball that the No. 20 Walters State Senators have displayed this season. In the end, it was good enough to return to the win column.

Freshman sensation Alvin (A.J.) Thomas pulled ironman duty, playing all 40 minutes, while scoring a gamehigh 23 points as the Senators tripped up a feisty Roane State squad, 66-61, Wednesday night in TJCCAA action.

With the win, Walters State posted its 20th win of the season against two losses while pushing its conference worksheet to 7-2. The Raiders fell to 6-18, 1-8.

“It was nice to get back into the win column after having our 16-game winning streak snapped last Saturday down at Chattanooga State,” veteran Senators’ coach Bill Carlyle said. “It wasn’t exactly a thing of beauty, but it’s a win.”

Thomas knocked down 8-of-17 shots from the floor, including 5-of-11 from 3-point range. The Memphis native also made 2-of-3 from the charity stripe.
Fellow freshmen Michael Jenkins and Laquantis Stewart added 16 and 10 points, respectively. Stewart yanked down a team-high six rebounds. Roane State scored the opening basket of the contest before the Senators tallied seven straight points to take a 7-2 lead. By the end of the opening 20 minutes, the visitors held a 29-20 advantage.

“I thought we had a good defensive effort in the first half,” Carlyle said. “We made some plays, which allowed us to get some easy baskets.”

Thomas tallied 11 points in the first seven minutes of the second half, extending Walters State’s lead to 17 at 43-26. The lead for the Senators remained in double digits until Roane State started its comeback bid.

Kendall Butler’s 3-pointer with 4:43 showing on the clock narrowed the home team’s deficit to 54-47. The Raiders worked the lead down to three at 62-59 and 64-61 but two charity tosses by Thomas with five seconds left in the game seal away the victory.

“As well as we played in the first half on the defensive end, we played just as bad in the second half,” Carlyle said. “We didn’t have the same intensity and it showed with the amount of points (41) we allowed in the final 20 minutes.”

Butler led the Raiders with 19 points and nine rebounds. Dixon chipped in 13 points while Justin Givens scored 10.

For the contest, the Senators were 23-of-64 from the floor (8-of-22 from 3-point distance) for 35.9 percent while hitting 12-of-17 from the foul line.

Roane State was 25-of-54 from the field, including 6-of-16 on 3-pointers, for 46.3 percent while making 5-of-7 free throws.

Walters State returns to action Saturday at ‘Z’ Buda Gymnasium when No. 15 Motlow State comes to town for a 4 p.m. contest.

“Motlow will be the best team we’ve played all season,” Carlyle said. “They have big, physical players up front and one of the best guards (Tyree Evans) in the conference.

“I want to emphasize to the basketball fans in our area that if you want to see great basketball action, Saturday is the perfect time to come see it. We would love to have a big crowd there to support Walters State basketball.”