Rattlers lose to the Cardinals

Marcus Barham along with Desmond Williams checking into the game
| Photo credit: FAMU Athletics

Florida A&M men’s basketball took the court on December 29, to confront Ball State University. The Rattlers were defeated 54-75 in a crucial match up against The Cardinals.

FAMU led for most of the first half owning a five-point edge, 15-10 on a three-pointer by Marcus Barham with 9:17 left in the half.

However, Ball State managed to out rebound and shoot a notably better field goal percentage than the Rattlers and went on a 20-11 run to close out the half, taking a leading score into the Locker-room.

As the first half quickly came to an end, FAMU trailed a score of 30-26. Ball State scoring six 3-pointers only making eight buckets.

Ball State held a 39-30 advantage and outscored Florida A&M 24-16 in the paint and 15-6 on additional opportunity points.

With Rattlers right behind the Cardinals after the first half, Ball State manage to shoot 53 percent better in the first half

With the lack of Defense from FAMU in the second half, shooting Guard Justin Ravenel, stated “Defense could have been better in the second half. We gave up too many points, that’s what hurt us.”

The Cardinals opened the second half with a 15-4 run, building a 45-30 edge with 15:14 left, going on to outscore the Rattlers, with a score of 45-28 to seal the win.

The Rattlers leading scorer, Desmond Williams poured in 20 points and stated in the press conference that they should have learned from the report what their coach was telling them.

“I believe this game was a matter of keeping our momentum through the second half. We played well the first half. As a team we should have learned from the report our coach was telling us. We knew that the team’s strength was 3-pointers and we took it lightly.”

Marcus Barham added with 18 points as he shot four of the three pointers and six rebounds. Elijah Mays added eight points, while Isaiah Martin had five rebounds and four blocks.

For the Cardinals Tahjai Teague lead the team scoring 16 points. In addition, Trey Moses scored 10 points with 10 rebounds and Tayler Persons scored 10 points with four assists.

Veteran Point Guard Elijah Mays stated, “the game starts with practice and preparation. As a team we could have took a better approach and focused more on what we knew. “

For the cardinals this is the most winning consecutive games since 1999-2000.