Angelina College: Lee crushes Roadrunners

Following a pair of tough road trips in the past week, the Angelina College Roadrunners should have been happy to return home to Shands Gym Saturday against Lee College.

A game that began with plenty of promise eroded into a blowout: The 'Runners built a 16- point lead in the first five minutes, but faded out in a 99-81 loss to the Rebels, who were led by Dominique Keller's 39 points. Hollis Giles poured in 20 points for Lee, who entered the game with just three conference wins.

Jerrod Tillman scored 12 points and swiped three steals in those first five minutes; he'd finish with 20 to lead the 'Runners. Dee Proby added 16 and Jason Sabb 10 to lead the AC scorers.

Despite falling behind early, Lee continued to attack the Roadrunner defense and crash the boards. The Rebels got 24 second-chance points off 17 offensive rebounds. In addition, Lee managed 22 points off 17 AC turnovers. Five of those 'Runner turnovers occurred within two minutes in the first half, al

lowing Lee to climb back into the game with an 11-2 run to trail 47-45 at the half.

AC then relinquished their game-long lead at the 15:46 mark of the second half, with Lee reeling off an 18-5 run to take control the rest of the way.

In Shreveport, the Lady Roadrunners rested some of their battered starters but still came within a single big play of sending the game to overtime in a non-conference affair with Southern Shreveport. Instead, a turnover on the Lady 'Runners' last possession left them with a 78-74 loss to the Lady Jaguars.

Brooke Cooks had her best game of the season with 24 points, followed by Treasure Eddie with 10 and Shonderlette Paul with 9.

"Of course I wanted to win this game, but I felt it was more important to give some of our beaten up starters a break," head coach Byron Coleman said. "We've still got a full round of conference play to go, and our goal is to make the tournament."

Both AC teams will travel to Jacksonville on Wednesday to start the second round of Region XIV play. The Lady Roadrunners (14-7, 6-3) tip off at 5:30 p.m., with the Roadrunners (6-13, 5- 6) starting at 7:30.