Dewayne Pettus’ running jumper in the lane gave the visiting Bethune-Cookman Wildcats a one point win, 56-55, over the Coppin State Eagles in conference play Saturday evening at the Coppin Center.

As the Wildcats trailed 40-36 midway through the second half of play, junior transfer Dominique Whatley and senior Jordan Carrier helped Bethune-Cookman (7-10, 2-2 MEAC) rally for a 12-4 run in order to go out in front at 48-44 with 4:49 left in regulation.

Whatley, suspended for the last two games for violating team rules, returned with a sense of urgency as he scored seven of the Wildcats 12 points in the run. Carrier added a three-pointer and Pettus another of his patented floaters gave the Wildcats the late advantage.

Coppin State (4-14, 0-4 MEAC) used free throws from Robert Pressey and star player Tywain McKee to tie the game for the sixth time at 48 with the 3:21 left in regulation.

Both teams exchanged buckets down the stretch but it was the Wildcats who secured the game with two clutch lay-ups as time was expiring. Junior transfer John Holmes eyed the basket, but was surrounded by a slew of Eagles in the painted area. Having his way down low all night, Holmes had two good looks, but both fell short.

CSU’s Pressey even had a desperation three-point basket just miss at the buzzer from half-court to send the game into overtime, tied at 50.

In the overtime stanza, the Eagles used their home crowd to spark a run as Julian Conyers landed two of his four points in the game to put Coppin State in the lead, 52-50. Moments later, Antwan Harrison added a free throw to put the Eagles up three with 3:01 left in the contest.

“Free throws really hurt us tonight,” stated CSU head coach Ron “Fang” Mitchell. “We were 11-for-19, but missed big ones down the stretch. You can’t do that at home, or in any game where you know it’s going to come back to bite you later in the game?it did tonight.”

A steal at the mid-court area by Jimmy Hudson, silent for most of the night, allowed him to sail to the basket for two of his 11 points in the game in order to bring the Fighting Wildcats back to within 523-52 with 2:10 left. That was followed up by two Holmes free throws to put the ?Cats out in front at 54-53 with 1:15 showing in the overtime period.

That’s when the floater, becoming a staple for Pittsburgh native Dewayne Pettus, was counted for a big basket to give B-CU a 56-53 lead with 29 ticks left.

CSU’s McKee, the only Eagle in double-figures for the game with 14 on the evening, hit two free throws with five seconds left ... but the Eagles had only committed five fouls in the second half/overtime stanza. That allowed another two seconds to tick off the clock for the bonus situation to kick-in for the Wildcats at the foul line.

Pettus, toed the line for a one-and-one attempt, which rimmed-off with just two seconds left to allow CSU to rebound the ball and call a timeout. The play was designed by legendary head coach Ron “Fang” Mitchell, but B-CU’s Reed used five to guard four ... allowing the inbound pass to be free to try and heave the length of the court.

The final pass was stolen by Hudson, and the Wildcats escaped out of the Coppin Center with their second win in three tries. As for the Eagles of CSU, this is the first time in the “Fang” Mitchell era that his team has started the conference campaign 0-4.

In reverse, this is the first time since the 2005-06 campaign the ?Cats have been 2-2 at this juncture of the conference slate. They started off with a 3-0 mark before dropping four of the next five in 2004-05. B-CU finished tied for second place in the regular season standings in 2005-06 ... and a school-record mark in Division I play at 15-15 overall.

“That was a great scout our coaching staff did tonight, and we did a good job of scoring in transition and creating open looks for our shooters,” praised Reed afterwards in the locker room. “This was a good win, and a way for us to bounce back and get into the thick of things once again in the league.”

The Eagles were led on the night by McKee’s 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He was all over the place as he delivered one of his best MEAC games of the year, proving he’s a true Preseason First-Team All-MEAC selection. Behind him was Vince Goldsberry with nine points and four boards.

Bethune-Cookman was anchored by the play of Whatley with a season-high 20 points. His previous high was 18 versus Texas-Pan American in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic. He was helped out nicely tonight by Hudson’s 11 points, which seemed awfully quiet for the usual sharp-shooter from Eustis, Fla.

But B-CU would also need a lot of help from Maryland native John Holmes who scored 10 points and pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds. For the Salisbury native, it was his second double-double of the campaign, and the eighth consecutive game he’d scored in double-figures for the Wildcats.

“This was a big win for us tonight because we wanted to get back on track and make a run at this thing [MEAC title],” expressed Holmes shortly afterwards. “We knew we could have won both games last weekend, but we had to put that behind us and get back to work. And that’s exactly what Coach Reed wanted us to do ... forget about the past and handle tonight. I think we did that tonight, didn’t we?” he expressed with a smile on his face while surrounded by family outside the locker room.