TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 19) - Fans at the Lawson center were treated to extra basketball Saturday afternoon, when FAMU’s Mens Basketball team hosted conference foe Maryland Eastern Shore at the Al Lawson Center.
The hard-fought game went to overtime after two tenacious halves of basketball. Howeverthe home crowd ended up leaving the arena quietly as the Hawks squeaked out a 60 to 58 victory over the Rattlers.
The game was tied at 52-52 at the end of regulation. The Rattlers forced overtime after Kamron Reaves hit a strongly contested mid range jumper with 28 seconds remaining, followed by a solid defensive stand as the Hawks could only muster a 35 foot heave by Ryan Andino as time expired.
In the overtime, FAMU’s leading scorer, Justin Ravenel got the main focus of Eastern Shore’s defense with many double teams, and defensive switches to force someone else to beat them.
Due to this strategy, D.J Jones stepped up for the Rattlers, hitting 5 of his 7 shots and coming up with three huge offensive rebounds in the second half.
The game came down to the final possessions at the end of overtime. Down two with 30 seconds left, the Rattlers ran a set that got center Ifeanyl Umezuike a good look underneath the basket but the pass went off his hands and out of bounds.
After the Hawks split the free throws to go up 3, the Rattler’s had one final chance to send the game to another extra period with just 3 seconds remaining on the clock.
On the inbound, freshman M.J Randolph got fouled on a three-point attempt but unfortunately the first free throw lipped out. Then, after making the second free throw, Randolph chucked the ball at the rim at the hope of getting an offensive rebound but the ball went into the hand of a Hawk, who chucked the ball down the court as the last seconds expired.
Free throws would once again prove pivotal for FAMU as the team only shot 13 for 23 from the charity stripe.
Head coach Robert McCullum said after the game “Were going to have games like this, games where it feels like there is a lid on rim and nothing is falling, we have to find a way to power through”.
When asked if he had spoken to Randolph after the crucial missed free throws McCullum said “I haven’t yet but I'm going to tell him he has 12 more games and three more seasons here to work hard and improve and succeed the next time he is in that moment. I will go to war with him every day.”
Even though MD Eastern Shore (3-17, 1-3 MEAC) was in the lead for the majority of the game, it was a back and forth affair with over 11 ties and eight lead changes.
Coach McCullum mentioned that the team could never seem to take the lead then play defense long enough to expand that lead.
Overall there really was not much separating these two teams in their on court production, UMES shot 42% from the field while FAMU shot 39%. UMES outrebounded FAMU by only two rebounds, and UMES only committed one more turnover than FAMU.
For FAMU (5-14, 2-2 MEAC) it was Justin Ravenel leading the way with 18 points on four three pointers, leading all scorers in the game, followed by D.J. Jones with 11 points, and Karon Reaves and M.J. Randolph with eight points each.
UMES guard Ryan Andino and forward Tyler Jones led the Hawks in scoring. A key stretch of the game was late in the first half when Andino went on a personal 9-0 run with back to back to back three pointers giving the Hawks their biggest lead of the game of 10.
Starting point guard for FAMU Tracy Hector sustained a calf injury late in the second half but returned to the game in overtime. He led the Rattlers with 4 assists.
With the loss the Rattlers now drop to 2-2 in conference play, and will have a short turn around to get organized when they host Delaware State on Monday, Martin Luther King Day at 4:00 p.m.
