TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 10) - The May-December guard combo of freshman David Buchanon and senior Joe Ballard helped rally Florida A&M past Howard University in overtime, 79-74 in a MEAC men's basketball game Saturday night at Gaither Gymnasium.
Ballard finished the night with a career-high 28 points, six rebounds, six steals and four assists, along with an 11 of 13 shooting performance at the charity line, almost singlehandedly driving the Rattlers (3-10, 1-1 in MEAC) back into contention after they trailed, 29-22 at the half.
Buchanon ended the night with 17 points, but scored 13 of those in the overtime, swishing three straight three-pointers, then cashing in on four straight foul shots after missing a pair.
In the first half, the game was tightly-contested in the first 10 minutes, when Ballard cashed in a layup at the 10:44 mark to tie the game at 14-14, before the Bison went on a 15-8 over the final nine minutes to seize control and take a 29-22 lead at the break.
Howard (1-13, 0-2 in MEAC) came out of the gate in the second half, extending their lead to 13 points, 39-26 on a Kyle Riley layup with 15:43 to go, before hitting a dry spell which opened the door for FAMU's dramatic comeback.
The Rattler resurgence was led by Ballard, who scored 19 points in the second half, with 17 of those coming before the overtime period.
FAMU outscored the Bison, 26-12 over the next 12 minutes, grabbing a 52-51 lead on a pair of Ballard foul shots with 3:52 left.
A Kyle Riley foul shot tied the game, 52-52, then a jumper by Eugene Myatt gave the Bison back the lead, 54-52 with 3:24.
Lamar Twitty nailed a three-pointer to push FAMU back in front, 55-54 with 3:08 left in regulation, then Ballard swished a pair of charity tosses to extend the Rattlers to 57-54 with 2:42 left, before following with a layup for a 59-54 lead with 2:27 left.
Kyle Riley's thunderous slam dunk for Howard at the 2:13 mark brought the crowd to its' feet, cutting the FAMU lead to 59-56, then C.J. Prince followed with a three-pointer with 1:31 left tying the game 59-59.
Freshman Yannick Crowder hit a foul shot with 23 seconds left, then Ballard hit the second of two shots with two seconds left for a 61-59 lead.
But Kyle Riley was fouled by Crowder on an inbounds play at mid court, sending Riley to the line for a pair of free throws, which he knocked down to send the game to overtime, tied at 61-61.
In the extra period, the freshman Buchanon took over after Ballard hit a pair of foul shots to give FAMU a 63-61 lead with 4:36 left., cashing in three straight three-pointers which vaulted the Rattlers to a nine-point lead, 74-65 with 2:14 left.
The Bison would not fold though, slicing the FAMU lead to just one, on a C.J. Prince three-pointer with 17 seconds left, 75-74.
Buchanon iced the game by hitting four straight free throws, a pair with 14 seconds left and two more with three seconds remaining.
For FAMU, in addition to the 28 from Ballard and the 17 from Buchanon, the Rattlers got nine points from Dale Hughes, plus 14 rebounds from Crowder and 10 from Lamar Twitty, who also had eight points.
Howard had a quartet score in double figures, led by Myatt with 22 points and Riley with 15 points. Randy Hampton added 12 points and Curtis White tossed in 11 for the Bison, which lost their 13th straight game.