Antwan Harrison’s tip-in with four seconds left vaulted the Coppin State Eagles past the Florida A&M Rattlers, 69-68 in a hard-fought, hotly-contested MEAC men’s basketball game here at Gaither Gymnasium Monday night.

Florida A&M and Coppin State, which have traditionally had some epic battles in their long series dating back to the 1980s, had yet another nail-biting special Monday.

Monday’s contest featured eight ties and 16 lead changes. Coppin State’s largest cushion was 12 points, 17-5 on a Julian Conyers dunk with 13:31 left in the first half.

Florida A&M caught fire down the stretch, outscoring the Eagles, 29-18, thanks to the play of Leslie Robinson, Lamar Twitty and center Akini Akini who combined for 25 points in the first half.

Coppin State, which held a razor slim 35-34 lead at the break, could not pull away from the grimly determined Rattlers, as the score was tied six times over the final 20 minutes.

The Eagles grabbed a four-point lead, 40-36 on a Mike Miller foul shot with 17:40 left, but Leslie Robinson’s layup for FAMU tied the score 40-40 with 16:37 left.

Moments later, Robinson cashed in a three-pointer to stake the Rattlers to a four-point lead of their own, 46-42 with 15:00 to go, but Robert Pressey’s jumper at 14:21 made it a deuce match again, 46-46.

The pitched battle continued down the stretch, as neither club could get more than three points ahead. A jumper by Tywain McKee following a Conyers foul shot, put the Eagles ahead, 62-59 with 6:45 left, but a jumper by Ernest Maul and a three-pointer by Robinson put the home team back in front, 64-62 with 5:30 left.

A foul shot by A’Daeron Duncan cut the FAMU lead to 64-63 with 4:18 to go, then a Conyers jumper with 2:26 left put the Eagles back in front, 65-64.

FAMU’s Akini Akini knocked down a pair of charity tosses with 2:01 left for a 66-65 Rattler lead, but Conyers, who scored 10 points in the second half, hit a jumper with 1:54 to go, giving Coppin a 67-66 lead.

Akini’s jumper with 1:09 left put FAMU ahead for the last time at 68-67, but his missed jumper with 15 seconds to go was rebounded by Duncan, who passed to Conyers, who missed a jumper, which Harrison tipped in with four seconds left.

Coppin State (9-19, 4-8 in MEAC) got 16 points from Conyers, 15 from McKee and 12 from Harrison, while Pressey finished with 11 rebounds.

Florida A&M (9-16, 5-7 in MEAC) got 24 points from Robinson, who cashed in five three-pointers. Akini added a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds, with Twitty finishing with 12 points.