The more South Carolina State newcomers Jason Johnson and Phillip Adams play, the more head coach Tim Carter likes what he sees.

Before 241 fans Thursday night at the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center, the Bulldog duo gave Carter even more reasons to shower them with accolades with career scoring nights to help snap a three-game losing streak.

In the 81-57 rout over winless NAIA independent Allen University, Johnson scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. The junior college transfer forward also had three of SCSU's six blocked shots as part of a defensive effort which limited the Yellow Jackets (0-10) to 32.3 field-goal shooting and 4-16 three-point shooting.

As for Adams, the sophomore defensive back turned guard had 10 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes before fouling out in just his third game with the basketball squad.

"I love Phillip's attitude, I love his effort, I love his feel for the game," Carter said. "Jason is really coming along right now. We're getting the basketball to him in places where he can score."

SCSU (4-8) shot 52.6 percent from the field as a team and outrebounded Allen 55-31. Those efforts helped overcome another below average night from the foul line where SCSU nearly matched its season average by hitting just 19-32 (59.4 percent) free throws. The team did hit 10 consecutive free throws in one stretch and fared better than Allen's 11-25 (44 percent) effort from the charity stripe in a game which saw 47 personal fouls.

A bigger concern for Carter heading into the Christmas break was the 27 turnovers. Freshman Carrio Bennett was responsible for five turnovers and Carter was forced to use Adams extensively at point guard as both Jessie Burton and Thomas Bookman struggled running the offense.

"I feel comfortable playing (Adams) at the point," Carter said. "He's not a point guard, but I love his effort. I love his enthusiasm and he's doing what I ask him to do. That's the problem I've got with some other guys. They won't do what I ask them to do.

"Right now, we don't have a head on our team. That's where we're struggling with right now."

Johnson got his career-night off in dominating fashion. Outmanning the Yellow Jacket players in the post, he scored seven of SCSU's first nine points enroute to finishing with 13 first-half points on 5-5 shooting.

"When Jason played with the enthusiasm that he plays with, we're a lot better team," Carter said.

Johnson also helped the Bulldogs enjoy an overwhelming 30-17 rebounding advantage in the first half with seven boards. The Bronx, NY native's only misstep in the first half was getting called for a technical foul after he hung on the rim following a failed alley-oop toss by Adams.

Allen, which was facing SCSU for the first time in 33 years, stayed as close as 13-12 with 10:57 remaining. The Bulldogs then erupted for 13 unanswered points during a 15-1 run which included the first two points for wide receiver turned forward Oliver "Trey" Young.

While holding the Yellow Jackets to 6-29 shooting (20.7 percent) and only two field goals made over the final 10 minutes of the first half, SCSU helped itself by making eight straight free throws in pushing their lead up to 17 late in the first half.

It was a sloppy beginning to the second half on both sides as turnovers were the norm through the first two minutes. A three-point play by Johnson following a thunderous two-handed slam dunk opened up the second-half scoring and a three-pointer by Adams gave SCSU's its biggest lead at 43-24.

A two-handed putback by David Cobb, who had nine rebounds, extended SCSU's lead to 52-29 with 13:19 remaining. With the Yellow Jackets still unable to get consistent offensive play, the Bulldogs went on a 19-4 run which pushed their margin up to 34 points with 4:48 remaining.

Allen, coached by former longtime SCSU assistant coach Tim Gates, did outscore the Bulldogs 13-5 over the final 4:37. Byron Littlejohn led the team with 20 points and Spencer Williams had four of the team's 12 steals.

Nevertheless, it was not enough to prevent SCSU from posting its most-lopsided win of the season and improve to 2-2 at S-H-M.

"We need a win," he said. "We need a win bad. We played some good ballclubs. We've been in some games. (The Hartford game) we should have won that game. It's good to get a win."

SCSU returns to action Dec. 29 at 5 p.m. against James Madison in the Jim 'N Nicks Cougar Classic taking place at the John Kresse Arena on the College of Charleston campus.

n T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 533-5547. Discuss this and other stories at TheTandD.com.

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