Daytona Beach, Fla. - Senior John Holmes poured in game-high 20 points to lead the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats to their second straight conference win with a 65-56 victory over Coppin State Saturday night at Moore Gymnasium.
"John Holmes played a phenomenal game tonight," said B-CU head coach Clifford Reed, Jr. "He played the way he is capable of playing and how we need him to play for us to be successful."
Holmes also grabbed seven rebounds, shot 5-of-8 from the field, with two dunks, and sank 10-of-10 free-throws in 29 minutes off the bench.
Alexander Starling scored 13 points and had a game-high eight boards to give the Wildcats a strong one-two combination in the front court.
Coppin State (3-13, 1-3 MEAC) played a great defensive game on B-CU's leading scorer C. J. Reed and limited the freshman to six points. Reed has a 15.2 scoring average. Reed played the full 40 minutes and recorded six assists and one steal.
"After the first few minutes (Coppin State led early 7-0 in the opening three minutes) we controlled the tempo throughout the game and our defense was strong and we played very well," said Coach Reed.
B-CU increased their overall record to 9-8 and 3-1 in the MEAC. Coppin State drops to 3-14 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
"We were battle-tested on the road with the young guys and they had some success on the road with wins at Jacksonville and Savannah State to help gain their confidence," said Reed. "For some reason, we seem to play better on the road and we gel as a team on the road and have played well. Our young guys play on emotion and now with the home crowd behind them, they tend to play even better."
The Wildcats led the Eagles 31-24 at the half. They played a solid second half and shot 48-percent (12-of-25) from the field and remained ahead five points or better in the games’ final 20 minutes.
The Wildcats hit 20-of-26 free-throws (76.9%) to close out CSU and win at home for the first time since the 2001-2002 season against the Eagles (96-72 win vs. Coppin State at Moore Gym). CSU had won six straight games in Daytona Beach (5 at Moore Gym and one at the Ocean Center).
The Wildcats held MEAC Preseason Player of the Year Tywain McKee to just 14 points, including 2 of 12 three-pointers in 40 minutes. CSU shot 36.4 percent from the field and hit a low 8-of-22 shots in the second half.
B-CU is back action Monday afternoon with the special Martin Luther King, Jr. Day game at 2 p.m. against Morgan State in Moore Gym.
"I'm a coach, we'll take an hour or so to enjoy this victory, then we'll start preparing and looking at film on Morgan State," said Reed.