Courtesy of Stephen Gude Jr./The Famuan
It wasn’t exactly the last home game that the Florida A&M University Rattlers expected. The Rattlers men’s basketball team took on the North Carolina A&T Aggies in Al Lawson Gymnasium on Feb. 27 and fell short of a win leaving the score 77-70 in overtime.
Head Coach for the Rattlers, Byron Samuels, wasn’t happy with the outcome for the Rattlers.
“Certainly a disappointing loss. I thought we had momentum throughout the second half but we certainly didn’t sustain it in that last three and a half minutes. We just didn’t make enough plays, we just needed to make one more play,” Samuels said.
FAMU had a slow start trailing behind the Aggies 10-4, but it didn’t last long. FAMU picked up after freshman guard Nicholas Severado put the Rattlers in the lead with a nice two point shot making the score 11-10.
The Rattlers and Aggies challenged each other in the first half, but NC A&T maintained their lead 36-31. Although the Aggies held their lead, rattlers had a highlighting moment. Freshman Guard K’Ja Johnson hit an exciting three point buzzer beater at the end of the first period.
The Rattlers shot 45.5 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from the three point line in the first half.
Craig Bowman, a sophomore guard for FAMU went into the game wanting to support his senior teammates on their last home game.
“I saw my team playing hard and I wanted to come off the bench and display leadership by just playing hard. It was Jerran Foster and Mario Karailiev senior night, and I just wanted to go out there and help them enjoy their last time in front of this crowd,” Bowman said.
Rattlers fought back in the second period and held on until the last seconds of the game. FAMU held a breathtaking lead after a clutch three pointer made by Francois Lewis, Freshman forward for the Rattlers.
Aggies made a quick comeback after a charge was called on FAMU taking the Aggies to the free throw line leaving them to trail by two points with under a minute to go in the game.
Aggies held on forcing the rattlers to go into overtime, and pulled off the win against the rattlers shooting 50 percent from the field.
Bowman felt like he fell short during the game with the missed free throw in regulation.
“That play keeps coming to my mind. That last free throw, I made the first one, but the second one could’ve put more pressure on them and forced them to need a three on that last play. I missed it and they only needed two points and they got it done,” Bowman said.
This was the last home game for the Rattlers this season, but they will prepare to head to Georgia for their last game of the season to face the Savannah State Tigers Thursday at 8 p.m.