Box Score DALTON, Ga. – The Belhaven men's basketball team fell at Dalton State College 84-73 on the second day of the Carpet City Christmas Classic Saturday night. The Blazers entered the rematch with the Roadrunners in hopes of avenging an earlier loss to Dalton State in the opening game of the 2013-14 season. Unfortunately, the Roadrunners proved to be too much on their home floor.

(Box Score-HTML)
Dalton State (14-1) took a commanding lead early in the game and never looked back, although Belhaven (4-6) would rally late to close the gap. The Blazers enjoyed their only lead of the night just over a minute into the game after Luke Rogers drilled a field goal to make it 2-1. The Roadrunners then proceeded on a 22-6 run over the next six minutes to build a 23-8 advantage. Dalton State cruised through the rest of the half and went up 53-32 at the break.

The Roadrunners largest lead of the night was 64-35 with 13:13 to go in the game, but to Belhaven's credit they didn't give up. The Blazers outscored Dalton State by 18 points in the final minutes cutting the deficit back down to 11 points when the final buzzer sounded.

"I felt like we came out sluggish and dug ourselves a hole in the first half," said Belhaven Head Coach John Aiken. "However, I'm really proud of the guys that battled in the second half and as a group we never quit. We need to regroup over the Holidays."

Jordan Bedford shined for the Blazers Saturday night, pouring in a game high 20 points to lead all scorers. Carlo McDonald followed Bedford off the bench with 12 points while Curt Hall chipped in eight points and a team high seven rebounds. Datodrick Pinkston dished out five assists and also contributed six points off the bench.

The Blazers connected on 41.8 percent of their shots from the field (28-67) and were 13 of 22 at the free throw line (59.1%). Both teams combined for 84 rebounds with Dalton State holding a slight edge on the glass 43-41.

The Roadrunners had three players reach double digit point totals, led by Ricky Sears with 17. Demetrice Jacobs followed with 16 points and Sean Tate fired in 14 more for Dalton State. Jacobs ended up pacing all players with a game high nine rebounds with Jacobs, Sears and Tate each dealing out six assists.

The Roadrunners knocked down 43.9 percent of their shots from the field (29-66) and converted 17 of 26 attempts at the charity stripe (65.4%). They delivered nine three point baskets on target in Saturday's game. Turnovers also played a key role as Dalton State forced 21 Belhaven miscues translating them into 22 points.

The Blazers will be back in action on December 28th in an exhibition game at NCAA Division I Troy University before returning home to battle Xavier University (LA) in a non-conference matchup at Rugg Arena. The tip-off at Troy is slated for 1:00 PM while the Xavier contest is scheduled for 2:00 PM.