Junior guard Jessie Burton poured in a game-high 18 points, while junior forward Julius Carter had 14 rebounds to go with nine points as South Carolina State earned its second straight conference win, 65-59, over Florida A&M at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center Monday.

Sophomore guard Jason Flagler and junior forward Everett Spencer tossed in 10 points each in the victory, which lifted the Bulldogs to 8-14 overall and 4-4 in the MEAC.

Florida A&M was led by senior guard Leslie “LC” Robinson with 22 points and junior forward Lamar Twitty with 11 in the loss. The visiting Rattlers fell to 8-13 and 4-4 in league games.

FAMU controlled most of the first-half jumping out to a nine point lead, 22-13, on a 3-pointer by Robinson at the 9:37 mark. SC State sliced the deficit to three, 22-19, on a Burton 3-pointer with 7:09 left in the first-half.

The Rattlers extended their lead to eight, 31-23 on a pair of free-throws by Ernest Maul at the 2:10 mark. A 3-pointer by Adam Phillips cut the FAMU lead to three, 31-28, at the half.

The second-half belonged to the Bulldogs as SC State took only its second lead of the night on Burton’s 3-pointer with 13:00 left to play. Another basket from behind the arc by at the 11:20 put Coach Tim Carter’s team ahead 46-41 less than four minutes later as both teams struggled to score during that span.

SC State grabbed its biggest lead of the night --11 points ? at 55-44 on a jumper by Flagler with 6:04 left in the game. A 3-pointer by Robinson pulled the Rattlers to within 62-56 with 0:37 seconds left in the game but the visitors could get no closer.

FAMU struggled at the free throw in the second-half, hitting just 3 of 12 from the charity stripe, while SC State shot 11 of 17.

SC State will travel to Baltimore, Maryland Saturday (Feb. 9) to take on Coppin State in the first of a two-game MEAC road swing. The Bulldogs remain in the area Monday (Feb. 11) to face league-leading Morgan State.