Turnovers and missed free throws were the major contributors to the Florida A&M men’s basketball team dropping its Exhibition game against Albany State University, 68-64.
The team committed 24 turnovers, 17 in the first half. Head coach Clemon Johnson said the team needs to learn how to take better care of the ball.
“I’m not happy with the results,” Johnson said. “We cant turn the ball over and expect to win ball games.”
Yannick Crowder played a big part in defense against Albany State University with six blocks. He also grabbed 15 rebounds off the glass, six of which were offensive. Crowder said his individual performance would have been more rewarding had the team won.
“I don’t care about it being an exhibition or if I scored 100 points, we didn’t win and that makes this game disappointing,” Crowder said.
Markee Teal led the team in scoring with 13 points. Amin Stevens and Brandon Hosely each added 11 points to the team total.
Avery Moore had a tough time finding bucket, going 1-for-8 from the field for five points. Moore said his shots will start falling with more practice.
“I was trying to get all my teammates involved and I just wasn’t in rhythm,” Moore said. “The system is at a faster pace than last year, so with a little more practice I will come around. The man-to-man defense is the same and so is most of the zone defense. It won’t take much longer.”
FAMU Rattlers struggle with free throws going 13-24. Stevens said the team needs more practice in free throws.
“It becomes hard to win games if you can’t take advantage of free points,” Stevens said. “I’m sure that will be the focus for us in practice this week.”
Albany State caught up and tied the score 64-64 with 3:45 left of the game.
Rattlers fought to take the lead, but came up short at the end.
Johnson knows his team has some errors to fix in practice to ensure the team will be ready for this year 2011-2012 basketball season.
“We definitely have a lot of work to do,” Johnson said. “The team needs more time to figure out all of the offensive sets and defensive rotations, but we will have it down by the beginning of the season.”
The Rattlers open their season against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Friday in Atlanta, Ga. At 8 p.m.