Dalton State College was a No. 1 seed for this year's NAIA Division I men's basketball tournament after setting a program record with 27 regular-season victories and winning the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament. The Roadrunners did not get the chance to add a second national championship to the 2015 title they won in their first year of eligibility, finishing 30-3 as the NAIA called off its postseason earlier this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What first-year head coach Alex Ireland's team accomplished, though, was recognized in part recently when the NAIA's All-America recognition included two of their 6-foot-4 senior guards, with Randy Bell voted to the first team and Kevon Tucker receiving honorable mention. Bell, from Sicklerville, New Jersey, led the Roadrunners in scoring average at 17.3 points per game, and he also averaged 4.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.6 steals as a super substitute who started only five of the 29 games in which he appeared. He also shared the SSAC player of the year honor and is the program's second NAIA All-America first-team pick, joining Ladaris Green (2015), but the Roadrunners kept up a streak of having at least one player on the All-America list since the program became eligible for such honors five years ago. Tucker, from Dacula, Georgia, made 65 3-pointers and was the Roadrunners' leading scorer in total points (533), with averages of 16.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals. An All-SSAC first-team selection, he was the only player to start all 33 games for Dalton State in 2019-20.
* The 2019-20 Tennessee Tech women's basketball team, which included former GPS and Hamilton Heights player Akia Harris, received the Ohio Valley Conference's team award for sportsmanship. The award was voted on by the OVC's 12 women's basketball program's players and coaches and is intended to honor the team that best displays "the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA," according to a release from Tennessee Tech, which won the honor for the second time in three years. The conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff, administrators and fans factor into the criteria. The Golden Eagles finished 17-13 overall and 10-8 in league play.
Baseball
* Tennessee Wesleyan freshman outfielder and pitcher Chandler Kendall was the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's NAIA rookie of the week in its final weekly awards for the 2020 season. The 6-foot 185-pound Kendall, from Morganton, Georgia, allowed three hits and struck out seven batters in five innings of a seven-inning 14-2 home win against Lourdes University on March 12, a game that proved to be the season finale for the Bulldogs (16-6). It was the first start of Kendall's collegiate career.
Contact Marty Kirkland at mkirkland@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478.