By Robert Hudson

The Selma Times-Journal

The Wallace Community College-Selma Patriots got down early and could never recover, as they fell to the Marion Military Institute Tigers 68-49 at home Wednesday night.

Wallace head basketball coach Ronald Lane said the Patriots (1-1) just weren’t ready to play against the Tigers (2-1).

“I didn’t have them mentally ready to play basketball. That’s what it boils down to,” Lane said.

“We’ve got to go back in the gym and just get down and dirty. I think we were a little bit satisfied with a couple of wins. We didn’t play at all tonight. There was no mental toughness, there was no physical toughness, and that’s my responsibility to get them ready to play, and I failed tonight.”

The Patriots got into a 7-0 hole early in the first half, but would cut the score in half with a pair of baskets from Tonarrius Tate and Patrick Jackson.

But the Patriots couldn’t stop the Tigers, who were fueled by Raymond Gee, David Murray and Dominique Ellis as MMI took a 45-21 lead into halftime.

MMI drained six three pointers in the first half including one by Gee as time expired, and led by as much as 29 points on the night.

Tigers’ head coach Tommy Suitts said defense was the key to victory.

“I thought the way we defended them in the first half was key,” Suitts said. “We played poorly last Saturday night. I just think our kids were determined to make up for how bad they played. They were really focused and they defended the best we felt all year. We just held them to such a low number in the first half that they were playing uphill the rest of the game.”

Murray led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points, including four three pointers.

Ralphael Brooks had 9 points and 11 rebounds for the Patriots.