Matthew Hicks/Southern States Athletic ConferenceDalton State College's J'Quayveon Williams pulls down a rebound against two William Carey players. 

MONTGOMERY, Ala. —There’s a spot on the wall at Bandy Gymnasium that has remained unfilled. Dalton State College basketball coach Tony Ingle described the missing Southern States Athletic Conference tournament championship banner as a void.

Fueled by the extra motivation of avenging a previous loss, the Roadrunners won’t have to look at that empty spot anymore.

Dalton State defeated William Carey University 90-80 in the SSAC tournament championship on Saturday. The Roadrunners were led by 22 points and nine rebounds Sayvon Wilson, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

It took a total team effort to get past the Crusaders, who had finished tied with Dalton State atop the conference standings during the regular season. But William Carey claimed an advantage on tiebreakers, giving them the top seed in the tournament and the automatic berth in the NAIA national tournament as the regular season champion.

Dalton State will join them at national tournament in Kansas City, Mo. March 15-21 as the conference tournament champions having avenged a 78-75 loss to the Crusaders on Feb. 18.

“This feels so great, we’ve been talking about this for a while,” Dalton State guard Isaiah Box said. “We felt like we gave one away at our place and they took the lead (Saturday night) but we just stayed calm. Then we went on a run and that was it.”

The third-ranked Roadrunners (27-4) led by 12 points late in the second half in that loss two weeks ago, only to see William Carey escape with a victory. After trailing for most of the game Saturday night, Dalton State once again built a 12-point lead late and were determined not to let history repeat itself.

“We knew we were in this position before,” Wilson said. “We were up 12 at our place and they came back and won and we weren’t going to let that happen. We had to crash the boards and play defense and make sure we got the win.”

William Carey (24-7) grabbed the early advantage but couldn’t get much separation. Dalton State briefly took the lead, but the Crusaders led 35-32 at the half.

The Crusaders maintained their one or two possession lead for about the first 10 minutes of the second half. Guard Jaylen Moore led William Carey with 20 points and forward Terrance Mujahid had 10 points and six rebounds despite playing limited minutes with foul trouble.

“It’s tough getting over the hump when you’re playing another championship caliber team,” Ingle said. “Moore is so quick and it’s hard to contain him, and (Mujahid) is so strong and grabs it and just slams it down with so much force. But our guys kept battling and kept battling and kept believing.”

Trailing 56-52 with just under 10 minutes to play, the Roadrunners went on a rally. Wilson tied the game with a pair of baskets, then Box hit a 3-pointer to give Dalton State the lead. The run continued with several contributors, but the hot hand belonged to Box.

He hit a 3-pointer to take the lead to four. Then Wilson made a circus shot where he just laid the ball up in kind of a reverse finger roll without even looking at the basket.

A couple minutes later when it looked like the Crusaders might stem the tide, Box hit another 3-pointer to put Dalton State up nine and followed it up with another to push the lead past double digits.

That gave the Roadrunners the seperation.

“Sayvon makes some tough shots, that was a big one and help put it away,” Box said. “Then (Mon’Darius Black) played some great defense. He doesn’t score much and I don’t think he gets the credit he deserves because of that. He plays so hard and is the best defender I’ve ever played with.”

Dalton State failed to win the conference tournament in two previous tries, falling to William Carey in the semifinals in 2015 and to Auburn-Montgomery in the quarterfinals last year. Ingle said that fueled the team this week and it was obvious in the final minutes as Dalton State made several “effort” plays.

“That’s what wins you these type of games,” Ingle said. “Mike (Harden) had a huge blocked shot, (Carnilious Simmons) rebounding, and Sayvon was the MVP but does it so quietly. Then Box was incredible down the stretch.”

Box finished with 20 points and seven assists. Simmons, who was also named to the all-tournament team, had 19 points and six rebounds and Harden added 14 points.

Box’s success came after he had just three points in each of the tournament’s first two games while battling the flu. He admitted that he still wasn’t feeling well, and even vomited at halftime on Saturday, but he wasn’t about to let his team down by not playing.

“I didn’t tell coach I had gotten sick because I didn’t want him to take me out,” he said. “I wasn’t going to let the team down. I came out and gave them everything I had. I couldn’t give anymore. I am going to enjoy this with my teammates and go back and rest and get ready for nationals.”

That attitude, Ingle said, is why the void on the wall is gone.

“That’s the kind of champion he is,” Ingle said. “That’s why we are successful. Because we have each other’s backs.”