Middle Tennessee dominates Alberta, 92-61

CALGARY, Alberta – Junior guard Marcos Knight scored a game-high 22 points and senior forward LaRon Dendy added a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Blue Raider men’s basketball team dominated the Alberta Golden Bears, 92-61, on Wednesday evening in the Battle of the Border tournament at Calgary’s Jack Simpson Gym.

Knight and Dendy also created problems on the defensive end. Knight, a transfer from Chipola Junior College, collected four steals, while Dendy chipped in three blocked shots.

“LaRon is averaging a double-double for the tournament, so that’s a good sign,” head coach Kermit Davis said. “Marcos really played well, too. He was aggressive, scored with the ball in his hands, and I was really pleased with that.”

Davis also was pleased to see better ball movement in Wednesday’s game. After recording just seven assists in Tuesday’s contest and turning the ball over 26 times, the Blue Raiders turned it around in game two with 19 assists and only 13 turnovers.

“I thought our second half play was much, much better tonight,” Davis said. “We moved the ball offensively, and our assist to turnover was much improved. That was something we focused on, and we did a better job moving in the perimeter. We also shot for a better percentage tonight and made nine 3-pointers, which was really good to see. We had balanced scoring and got a lot out of tonight’s contest.”

In addition to Dendy and Knight, that balanced scoring came from junior forward Jason Jones, sophomore forward Shawn Jones and junior forward JT Sulton, who also cracked double figures. J. Jones scored 15 points, while S. Jones and Sulton each contributed 10.

Middle Tennessee shot 49.3 percent from the field, including 39.1 percent from beyond the arc. Junior guard James Gallman led the team from 3-point land with a 3-of-6 performance.

The Blue Raiders conclude their trip Thursday with a pair of games. MT will take on Mount Royal at 1 p.m. CT then face Alberta again at 9 p.m. CT.

“Tomorrow will be a good test, playing two games in one day,” Davis said. “That measures toughness. Everybody will get a ton of chances to play Thursday.”

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