Courtesy of Diamond Jones
Coming off an important Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference win against Morgan State, Florida A&M men’s basketball team fell short Monday night against Coppin State, losing 70-66 in the Al Lawson Multi-purpose Center.
Rattlers shot 42 percent of their shots and made none of their 11 free throw attempts in the first half, they trailed 28-24 at halftime.
The Rattlers came back second half making 50 percent of their shots and 80 percent of their free throws but it wasn't enough to win the game. They had 14 turnovers and allowed Coppin State to get 48 offensive rebounds for the game, while FAMU only grabbed 38.
Leading scorers were Malcolm Bernard with 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists; Craig Bowman added 14 and Jerran Foster finished with 12.
Head Coach Samuels was not at all pleased by his team's performance and felt like they didn't deserve to win. He also feels going 0-11 at the free throw line in the first half was a big factor in the loss.
"Congratulations to Coppin state for a hard fought victory. We didn't deserve to win," coach Samuels said. “ That's not to take anything from Coppin State they certainly deserved to win. Had we come back and tied it, went to overtime and won I still would've felt the same way."
Bernard, just like Coach Samuels, was neither pleased by the performance tonight.
"Like Coach Samuels, quite frankly I'm speechless. That's all I got," Bernard said.
Foster agreed that the team’s focus was not there.
"I agree with Coach Samuels. We didn't come out with the focus we needed to win tonight," Foster said. "I'm not really worried about my performance just trying to play hard enough for my team to get a win. Hopefully we can get the focus back to where we need it to be for the Howard game"
The Rattlers are now 6-13 for the season and 2-4 in the MEAC. They will be preparing to go on the road to play Howard University Saturday at 4 p.m. For more information visit Famu Athletics.