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Senior Casey Dalton delighted a large home crowd last night by tossing in a career high 21 points and sparking the Alice Lloyd College Eagles to a 94-72 season opening victory over the Kentucky Christian University Knights.

Dalton, who missed all of last season due to a foot injury, showed no ill-effects whatsoever in his return game. The guard coolly tossed in 14 first half points and sparked the Eagles to a 47-36 lead at intermission.

In the second half, the Eagles extended their lead to 16. However, propelled by guard Clay McKenzie, KCU sliced the deficit in half with 12:05 remaining. ALC, receiving a big boost from its bench, then went on a 12-2 run to steady the ship and put the contest out of reach.

For the victorious Eagles (1-0), Dalton (Nancy, Pulaski Southwest High) was joined by four teammates in double figures as Coach JR Hammond received a balanced effort.

Sophomore Brent Hall (Beaver, June Buchanan High) tossed in 19 points and muscled down 12 rebounds to complete a double-double. Sophomore guard Issac Wilson (Corbin, Corbin High) also added a double-double by racking up 16 points and dishing out 10 assists. Freshman guard Tyler Ailshie (Kingport, Dobyns-Bennett High) and sophomore forward Shawn Thompson (Lawrence, Lawrence Co. High) chipped in with 13 points each. Thompson also pulled down 10 boards of his own to give Alice Lloyd three men with double-double outputs.

After the game, winning Coach Hammond remarked, “I thought that we played well overall, and we received a total team effort. I felt the keys to the win were that we controlled the boards and limited out turnovers. This is a game that we can hopefully build on as we prepare for three games coming up in a four–day stretch.”

On the night, the Eagles shot 53% from the field compared to the Knight’s 36% and also won the battle of the boards 47-36.

ALC returns to the hardwood Saturday, November 5th, as they play host to Warren Wilson in a 5:30 pm matchup. They then travel to Pikeville on Sunday, November 6th, where they will play Shawnee State University in the BB&T Classic. Finally, they will conclude their stretch with a home contest next Tuesday, November 8th, against Crown College. Tip–off for that matchup will be at 5pm.