Second-seeded Florida A&M built a twelve-point lead with 9:26 to play and beat back a rally by third-seeded North Carolina A&T to earn a 74-66 victory over the Aggies Friday in semifinal action of the MEAC tournament at the RBC Center.
The Rattlers, who last won an MEAC championship in 2004, improved to 20-13 on the season and moved into Saturday’s final against top-seeded Delaware State, a 56-53 winner over Morgan State in Friday’s other semifinal contest.
The Aggies, whose campus is just over an hour away from Raleigh, finished their year at 15-17.
Junior Leslie “LC” Robinson, who was 7-12 from three-point range, had 25 points to lead the Rattlers, however, it was the play of FAMU senior Brian Greene down the stretch that enabled Coach Mike Gillespie’s team to hang on for the victory despite a boisterous and partisan Aggie crowd.
Green, who finished with just 12 points, gave his team a 64-59 lead when he nailed two free throws with 5:25 left, however, the Aggies pulled to within 64-62 on a three-point play by Greg Roberts at the 5:09 mark.
With his team hanging on to a precarious 64-62 lead with 3:56 showing, Green, who had a game-high 11 rebounds, grabbed teammate Darius Glover’s miss of the front end of a one-and-one opportunity and put in a twisting layup for a 66-62 Rattler advantage at the 3:51 mark.
After a miss by the Aggies on the other end, Green was fouled on the rebound and made one of two from the line with 2:35 left for a five-point 67-62 Rattler cushion, and after Steven Rush pulled the Rattlers to within 67-64 with two free throws, the Jacksonville native fed Glover for a layup and a 69-64 FAMU lead with just 1:43 showing.
The Rattlers closed out the contest with a 5-2 run to wrap up the victory and set up Saturday’s battle with the Hornets, a team which FAMU split with during the season, with each team winning at home.
Glover followed Robinson in the scoring column for FAMU with 14 points.
The Aggies were led by Rush with 22 points, including a 5-12 effort from behind the arc. Jason Willis added 14 points and Roberts 12 for NC A&T.
In what began as a three-point shootout between the two teams, settled down to more of a half court game in the second half. The two teams attempted a combined 49 shots from long-range in the contest, with the Rattlers connecting on 10, one more than the nine made by the Aggies.
Florida A&M’s Gillespie, who team lost to the Aggies twice during the regular season, said he tried a different strategy in Friday’s game.
“The two previous times we played,” said Gillespie, they got big games from (Steve) Rush. The last time we played them, he torched us with 35 points...our goal tonight was not to let him beat us. He still had 22 points but I thought we did a decent job on him defensively.
“Overall,” continued Gillespie, “It was a great team effort. The seven “threes” from LC were a key part of that effort, however, I thought Brian Green was key down the stretch.”
The Aggies’ Jerry Eaves, despite the disappointment of losing, lauded the play of his team, which he said “overachieved” this season.