HANCEVILLE – Wallace State’s basketball teams completed a sweep over conference foe Lawson State at Tom Drake Coliseum on Thursday night.
The Wallace State Lady Lions opened the doubleheader with their first conference win of season, rolling past the Lady Cougars 60-40.
Wallace State’s men followed with a 69-65 triumph, sending the Lions to an 11th win in their last 13 games.
Sophomore forward Derylton Hill led three Wallace State men in double figures as the Lions won their ninth consecutive game at home. Kylen Butler added 11 points for the Lions and Jaylen McCoy contributed 10 points off the bench.
Wallace State improved to 18-4 overall and 4-1 in Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC) action.
“We have to understand we are the hunted and we’ve also got to make sure we are hungry. When we get a big lead, we tend to become complacent. We’ve got to find that killer instinct,” said Wallace State coach John Meeks, who’s led the Lions to a pair of conference titles. “Lawson State is an ultra-talented team, so I’m proud we can mark off another conference win. We stepped up and made enough plays down the stretch to pull it out.”
Wallace State led 16-13 with 10:37 remaining in the first half before Hill seized control in the paint. The transfer from Potomac State scored seven consecutive points over the next three minutes, capping the surge with a 3-point play with 9:29 left before intermission.
Butler added a trey for Wallace State a minute later for a 26-13 lead, and Marcus Barham’s 3-pointer with3:42 to go pushed the Lions’ cushion to 31-16 – their biggest lead of the game.
Wallace State led 35-22 at the break.
The Lions controlled a 42-33 lead less than five minutes into the second half. Lawson State answered with a 9-0 run, tying the game at 42-42 with 12 minutes to go.
Hill stepped up again for the Lions, breaking the tie with a layup for a 44-42 advantage. Wallace State, which was in the bonus at the 10:19 mark, led the rest of the way, constructing as much as an eight-point margin.
Lawson State (14-7, 2-4 ACCC) trimmed its deficit down to two points with a little more than four minutes remaining, but Wallace State’s Darren Williams nailed a 3-pointer and added a reverse layup for a 61-54 lead with 3:14 left.
Barham scored all nine of his points in the first half for Wallace State and Xavier Mills added six points.
Lawson State had four players score in double figures. Devin Dorsett had 16 points, Arthur Johnson scored 12 and Rodney Simeon and Dontae Coleman added 11 points apiece.
Women’s basketball
Wallace State 60, Lawson State 40
Wallace State snapped a three-game conference losing streak with an impressive outing Thursday night.
The Lady Lions, who had 10 players crack the scoring column, yielded only four points in the opening quarter and a season-best 40 points.
Hannah Vest, the lone sophomore on the team, and Alex Lowery each scored 10 points for Wallace State, Morgan Higgins had nine and Sarah Reid added a career-high eight points off the bench in a confidence-booster for the Lady Lions (9-14, 1-3 ACCC).
“You are playing good defense if you only give up 40 points. Lawson State missed some shots, but our defense had a lot to do with it. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but we got it done,” said Wallace State coach Ron Burdette, the 2015 ACCC Coach of the Year. “We are also starting to get into a rhythm where different people are contributing different nights. That’s what you need to be successful. It was Sarah Reid’s turn in this one.”
Reid, a 6-foot-1 forward from Georgia, entered the game averaging 1.6 points per game.
Wallace State led 14-4 after the first quarter and 35-14 at halftime.
The Lady Lions led by double digits throughout the entire second half. With two minutes to go in the third quarter, a Kelsey Houston 3-pointer gave Wallace State a 46-26 advantage and the Lady Lions led 46-30 after three.
Wallace State earned as much as a 23-point cushion in the fourth quarter.
Houston, Jasmine Hollis and Velencia Johnson scored five points apiece for Wallace State.
Aja Cumbie’s 13 points led Lawson State (10-9, 0-5 ACCC).
Both Wallace State teams will host Snead State on Sunday, beginning with the women’s game at 2 p.m.
Wallace State will recognize the 1990-91 women’s basketball team at halftime of the women’s game and induct its second Sports Hall of Fame class in between the women’s and men’s games.
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit http://athletics.wallacestate.edu.
