TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Dec. 6) ? The Florida A&M Rattlers got themselves into a deep hole early Saturday evening and dropped a 63-46 decision to rival Bethune-Cookman in a conference game Saturday evening in Gaither Gymnasium.

Florida A&M (1-7, 0-1 in MEAC) fell victim to cold shooting in the first half, going 0-9 from three-point range as the visiting Wildcats (4-4, 1-0 in MEAC) opened up a 21-point lead, 35-14 by halftime.

Dunnell Webb’s jumper with 16:57 left in the opening half ended a three-minute FAMU scoring drought to start the game, leaving them down just 5-2.

Bethune-Cookman then went on a 10-1 run over the next eight minutes to build an 11-point cushion at the 8:40 mark, 17-6.

Tobias Mahone’s three-pointer with 7:03 left in the half pushed the Wildcats’ advantage to 16 points, 22-6.

FAMU went scoreless for just over nine minutes, as the Wildcats closed out the first half with a 30-12 tear.

The Rattlers shot 22.7 percent in the first half to 38.2 for the ?Cats, who hit four of eight from three-point range, while FAMU was 0-for-9 from beyond the arc.

Though the final deficit proved to be too deep, FAMU proved resurgent in the second half, shooting 54.2 percent from the field overall and outscoring B-CU 32-28 in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The ?Cats finished the game with a slight edge in field goal shooting, 40.7 to 39.1; in three-point shooting, 45.5 to 18.8 and in free throw shooting, 70 percent to 53.8.

B-CU also had a slight rebounding edge, 37-32, with 25 of those boards coming on the defensive end, which limited FAMU’s second chance scoring opportunities in that rough first half.

Junior Brandon Bryant and freshman Yannick Crowder led the Rattlers with 11 points apiece, while hauling down a team-high six rebounds. Senior Joe Ballard added seven points and freshman Dale Hughes chipped in five points.

B-CU got 16 points from freshman guard C.J. Reed, son of Wildcats’ head coach, Clifford Reed. Tobias Mahone finished with nine points on three-of-four 3-point shooting, while John Holmes also chipped in nine points. Alexander Starling pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for the Wildcats.

WHAT’S NEXT: FAMU returns to the court at Gaither Gymnasium next Saturday night for a non-conference game against Kennesaw State beginning at 7 p.m.
The Wildcats will face St. John’s on Sunday, December 14 in their next non-conference matchup beginning at 4 p.m. in Queen’s N.Y. at Carnesecca Arena.