South Carolina State, who played without starting guard and second-leading scorer Jesse Burton, got 27 points from freshman Carrio Bennett Saturday in an 85-81 overtime win over Bethune-Cookman.
It was an emotional win for Coach Tim Carter’s team, which was coming off a last-second 77-75 home loss to North Carolina A&T on Monday.
“This was obviously a big win for our team,” Carter said. Not having Jesse (Burton) available and squeaking out a win on the road was humongous. He had been playing really well for us and to win without him says a lot about our team, which gave a great effort.
“I think we are playing better than we were earlier in the year,” he continued and we really stepped up our play tonight and we hit our free throws when it mattered. “I’m proud of our team, especially after the tough loss we encountered against NC A&T Monday.”
Bennett, who got off to a hot start this season but had cooled off a bit, connected on 7-11 field goals, including 3-5 from behind the arc and was 8-8 from the free throw line, 6-6 in the extra period.
The Bulldogs also got 21 points from Everett Spencer and 16 from Jason Flagler in the victory, which lifted SC State to 11-18 overall and 7-8 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
The host Wildcats, with just seven players in uniform, led for most of the contest and had a shot to win it in the closing seconds with game deadlocked at 68-all, but the Bulldogs’ Jason Johnson, who had four blocks and 10 rebounds to go along with six points for Carter’s team, forced the Wildcats Dewayne Pettus, who led all scorers with 31 points, to alter his shot which missed the mark and SC State retrieved the rebound with 7.9 seconds left.
Each team had one more possession, however, SC State turned the ball over with 1.5 ticks left and the Wildcats’ long attempt was off the mark as the horn sounded.
The Bulldogs took a 72-68 lead in the extra period on a Flagler jumper and a follow shot by Johnson with 3:21 remaining.
After John Holmes got inside for a basket for BCU to bring his team to within 72-70 with 2:57 on the clock, Flagler got a dunk to trigger a 6-3 SC State spree that put the Bulldogs ahead 78-73 with just 36.1 left.
BCU, however, kept battling and got to within two twice, the last time at 83-81 on a Pettus layup with 2.8 seconds left, but the Bulldogs, who were 11-12 from the charity stripe in overtime, got two free throws from Thomas Bookman, his only points of the night to seal the win.
The Wildcats, who led by as many as 14 points before losing to the Bulldogs 51-48 earlier in Orangeburg, broke out to an early 21-12 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game before SC State closed the gap to 40-34 at the half.
Carter’s team used a 19-11 run in the first eight minutes of the second period to take a 53-51 lead -- its first since the opening bucket -- on a 3-pointer by Spencer, who connected on four baskets from long range in the game. The Columbus, Ohio native had three 3-pointers and Bennett two baskets from behind the arc during the run.
The contest was tied five times and featured two lead changes before John Holmes, who contributed 14 points for the Wildcats, made one of two free throws to forge a 68-68 tie with 2:15 left in regulation. Neither team could muster another point the rest of the way, forcing the extra period.