The Florida A&M men’s basketball team fought tough for 40 minutes as they dropped a 73-58 decision to instate rival University of Florida, Tuesday evening at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
 
FAMU (1-6) played the nationally-ranked Gators dead even (36-36) in the second half, after trailing 37-22 at the break.
 
The Rattlers were led by Lamar Twitty with a game-high 20 points, followed by Brandon Bryant with 16 points.  Joe Ballard finished with a team high seven assists, while both Twitty and Ballard finished with six rebounds each.
 
The Rattlers cut the Gators lead to 12-10 on a pair of Joe Ballard free throws with 14:58 remaining in the first.
 
An Alex Tyus dunk with 9:32 remaining in the first half, would cap off an UF 13-0 run, giving the Gators a 25-10 lead.
 
FAMU would then make a run of their own as they went on a 10-5 surge, capped off by a Brandon Bryant layup with 4:30 to go, cutting the UF lead to 30-20. The Gators finished the first half with a 9-4 run to take a 37-22 lead at the break.
 
FAMU finished the first half shooting 30.4 percent (7-of-23), while UF shot 44.8 percent (13-of-29).
 
In the second half, a Lamar Twitty three pointer cut the Gators’ lead to 39-29 with 17:53 to go capping a 7-2 run.
 
An Allan Chaney layup with 11:29 to go capped a 10-2 Gator run, extending the Florida lead to 15 points, 51-36.
 
A Twitty three pointer cut Florida’s lead to 13 points, 68-55 with 2:36 to go, the closest that FAMU would get the rest of the way.
 
FAMU finished the game shooting 44.2 percent (19-of-43), while UF shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56).  The Gators held the rebounding edge over the Rattlers, 32-29.
 
In the second half,  FAMU out shot UF from the field, with the Rattlers shooting 45.8 percent (11-24), while the Gators shot 40.0 percent (10-of-25).
 
UF (6-1) had a quartet of players to score in double figures with  Nick Calathes, who finished with a team high 16 points.  Both Alex Tyus and Chandler Parson finished with 15 points each, followed by Erving Walker with 13 points.  Tyus led the Gators on the board with six rebounds, while Calathes finished with a team seven assists.
 
FAMU returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 6 as they take on archrival Bethune-Cookman at Gaither Gymnasium in their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener at 7 p.m.