FAMU head basketball coach Robert McCullum kneeling during an exhibition game
Photo credit: FAMU Athletics
Florida A&M men’s basketball team took a hard loss yesterday as they faced the Morgan State Bears. The Rattlers came out fighting, but countless times it seemed like they made minor mistakes which led them to the 74-48 loss to the bears at the Al Lawson Center on Monday night.
FAMU failed as they allowed turnovers to be a problem which caused them to trail by a massive 20 points spread in the first half, with the scoreboard reading 38-18 at the buzzer heading into halftime.
Morgan State came out with the means to take over the court as they showed this by out rebounding and an almost doubled field goal percentage.
The Rattlers had an amazing second half that showed they are capable of getting that win. It seemed as if the Rattlers had miscommunication all throughout the game on the floor.
With the lack of points scored and poor performance from defense shown by FAMU in the first half, junior shooting guard, Justin Ravenel, said “We must compete harder under all circumstances and fight for the outcome we want.”
The Rattlers had a 9-0 run that put them only 14 points behind at 50-36, but they could not manage to get any closer.
The Rattlers leading scorer, Marcus Barham (16.3) finish the game with a total of 17 points, five rebounds, and one assist.
Rebounding was a big problem for the Rattlers as they had plenty of second chance opportunities to rebound the ball but failed to do so.
Morgan State seemed to have been controlling the court which had FAMU a little worn out, center Nicholas Severado gave his thoughts after the game. “Morgan State was the better team. They fought us and won convincingly. We gotta go back to the drawing board and get ready for Delaware State Saturday.”
Morgan State hit 30 of 58 shots which outscored the Rattlers who were 48-4 in the paint as post play was definitely a factor in the game.
For the bears this game meant a lot seeing that they have not won a road game since Mount St. Mary’s back in November.
The Rattlers must find their way as this makes 23 losses with only four games left in the season and drops them to eight losses thus far in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The Rattlers will look to end their five game losing streak this weekend as they take on an away game against Delaware State, Saturday 4 p.m.