Tim Carter expressed concern over his team’s lack of size on the interior heading into Monday night’s season-opening exhibition game against Voorhees.

If Carter’s South Carolina State men’s hoops team plays the rest of the season like they played under the lights of the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center against the tiny, visiting school from just outside Denmark, size won’t matter. Unveiling a lineup full of new faces, the 2009-2010 version of the South Carolina State hoops team showed off a faster, more aggressive style of play, creating 27 turnovers, to go with a nice shooting touch, knocking down 16 3-pointers, while cruising to an easy 109-63 win over Voorhees.

“I knew we would have a good shooting team,” Carter said. “I knew we would have a quick team. Still, what concerns me is our interior play right now. We don’t have Jason Johnson or the Josh Jackson’s anymore, guys who really give you a force inside. But, they played us a zone tonight, and we hit shots. I knew we would be a good shooting team.”

Leading the 3-point shooting barrage for the Bulldogs was Westley Telfare, who scored all 15 of his points from behind the arc, going 5 of 7 from 3-point range in the game. Coming off the bench, guard Carrio Bennett also went 5 of 7 from 3-point range, finishing with 19 points and forward Brandon Smalls, who struggled last season after being brought into the program to provide an outside shooting presence, came off the bench to go 3 of 7 from 3-point range, finishing with 19 points. Perhaps the most impressive Bulldog however, was junior college transfer forward Darnell Porter, who scored 23 points, collected one block and three steals in his debut with the team.

“He has some toughness about him,” Carter said of Porter. “He will hit open shots. He will defend. He is our highest-rated player when it comes to his evaluation so he does a lot of things. He will rebound, defend and score ... he’s not just one dimensional.”

Voorhees took a 2-0 lead in the game on a layup by Atwan Carter, who finished with a team-high 17 points. The smaller, scrappy Tigers kept it close through the first few minutes of the game, actually holding a 9-8 lead following a Larry Bacon 3-pointer, with just under 16 minutes to play in the first half. South Carolina State responded to Bacon’s shot by going on a 12-0 run to take control of the game. The Bulldogs led 51-29 at the half and went on a 10-0 run to start the second to put the game out of reach. As impressive as the victory was, Carter said there is still room for improvement.

“We have to do a much better job of defending the ball,” he said. “As much pressure as I want to put on the ball, off the ball, we have to do a better job of helping and recovering and obviously we have to crash. We took some jump shots tonight, and when you are spread out, you don’t go in there and rebound sometimes. But, if we don’t rebound we are going to be in for a long year.”

The Bulldogs will host Erskine College Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

Bulldog Bites: There was a moment of silence prior to the game for former S.C. State PA announcer Robert “Wag” Howard who recently passed away. A black ribbon will be situated on the PA microphone for the remainder of the season in Howard’s honor... Speedy new Bulldog point guards Khaliff Toombs and Tyvon Williams combined for six steals. “They were really solid,” Carter said. “At times, I thought Tyvon gambled too much where as Khaliff tried to keep them in front of him which is what we want.”... Pitt finished with 3 points and a team-high 7 rebounds while freshman backup center Jodd Maxey had 4 points and 6 rebounds. “Rio played OK,” Carter said. “He’s trying to do some things he can’t do. He has to catch it, make a move or get it back out. He was OK tonight. We just have to refine what he does. Jodd is a freshman, and he is going to make some mistakes. He didn’t realize that guy could shoot it. He left him open and the guy nailed a couple of shots, but Jodd is going to be fine. We just have to get a little bit more weight on him.”

SCSU (109) -- Darnell Porter 23, Carrio Bennett 19, Brandon Smalls 17, Westley Telfare 15, Jason Flagler 10, Toombs 9, Williams 8, Maxey 4, Pitt 3, Wright 1.

Voorhees (63) -- Antwan Carter 17, Jeffery Evans 16, Bacon 9, Dotson 7, Randolph 6, Allston 4, Waters 2, Chavis 2.

Halftime: SCSU 51-29.

T&D Sports Editor Brian Linder can be reached by e-mail at blinder@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5553. For more on S.C. State athletics visit www.thebulldogzone.com.

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