With two overtimes, it was an upsetting 80-78 loss Saturday for the Florida A&M Rattlers against the North Carolina A&T Aggies.
The number three could have been the theme number throughout the entire game. The first point scored by FAMU was a three pointer.
The Rattlers led the first half by 16 points outscoring the Aggies from the three-point line. The Rattlers were 44.4 percent from the three-point line to the Aggie’s zero percent.
Over half the Rattlers points in the first half came from the three-point shot.
The Rattlers outscored the Aggies in the first half through points off turnovers and fast-break opportunities, leaving the score in the first half 40-26, the largest lead in the half.
In the second half, the first point that was scored was another three-pointer. The Rattlers began turning over the ball allowing the Aggies to get back into the game.
When it looked like the Aggies were building momentum, FAMU prevented them from getting points through steals. FAMU had a total of 28 points off turnovers compared to North Carolina A&T’s 22.
Jason Wills, a forward from the opposing team, cut the lead to 60-56. After this, the Aggie defense pressed against the Rattlers, but it was no good because FAMU got second chance opportunities through rebounds.
Because of missed shots by FAMU, the score was cut to three points with six minutes remaining in the second half. At about four minutes, the game was cut to one point.
Lamar Twitty, guard and the second lead scorer in the game, said many of members played a lot of minutes because some of the players had the flu – a contributing factor to the Rattlers’ loss.
“Our bodies got tired,” said Twitty, 21, a junior criminal justice student from Fort Lauderdale. “We couldn’t move like we were moving in the first half.”
He said next game the team will have to play through the fatigue if members are still ill.
“If they are still sick, we are just going to have to play 40 minutes again and hope we can pull through,” he said.
At 13.5 seconds remaining, the Aggies got the ball back with the score being 66-63. Fans stood up to see if FAMU would prevail, but Glenn Nelson from the opposing team made a clutch three-pointer, tying the game.
“They did a better job than us in the second half shooting from the field,” said Eugene Harris, men’s basketball head coach. “What hurt us the second half, we turned the ball over too many times.”
The game went into overtime and the Aggies took control of the game. The first point scored in overtime was a three-pointer by the Aggies.
When it looked like the Rattlers were going to have a shocking loss in overtime, they came back to tie the game 71-71.
A second overtime then occurred. The Aggies scored the first point. Free throws at 10.7 seconds were in the opposing teams’ hands and this decided the result of the game.
The Aggies’ Thomas Coleman ended the game with both free throws and stunned the audience.
The lead scorer for the Rattlers with a total of 25 points, guard Leslie Robinson, 22, said the team would not let this loss affect them going into the next game.
“It was a tough loss, but we can’t dwell on it,” said Robinson, 22, a senior criminal justice student from Illinois.
“They fought back hard because they are a good team.”