Jan. 3, 2012

Box Score / Photo Gallery/ Post-Game w/Coach Craig and Ricky Johnson

By Dan Ryan
B-CUAthletics.com

AUBURN, Ala. - It was a night Auburn's Kenny Gabriel will always remember and one Bethune-Cookman would like to forget as the Wildcats sustained a 67-41 loss to the Tigers Monday before 4,207 in the Auburn Arena.

While Gabriel did something Charles Barkley never did here and registered the first triple-double (24 points, 13 rebounds, 10 blocked shots) in Auburn history, the Wildcats (4-11) fell to 0-9 on the road and 1-10 away from home as they shot a dismal 23.7 percent from the field.

Good points? Ricky Johnson's career-high 17 points and the simple fact this wasn't a conference game - B-CU resumes Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play Saturday at North Carolina A&T.

The Wildcats missed their first seven shots and things didn't get much better after that.

 "I think we still thought this was our Christmas break, honestly. I'm glad we got a game in before we started our conference play, but we've got to get back to work," said B-CU Acting Head Coach Gravelle Craig. "That was probably the worst we have played all year. There was no energy and we didn't play harder than our opponent.

"This was a talented Auburn team. They were bigger than us, which we have some conference opponents that are going to bigger than us," Craig added. "We did some things that showed us if we don't come to play and we don't compete harder than our opponent like I've said all year, we're going to struggle."

With Gabriel swatting away, Auburn (10-3) limited B-CU to just eight points inside. The Wildcats scored more points from behind the three-point line (18) than inside (16).

"They were just more aggressive," Craig said of Auburn's defense. "We were just going in there and laying the ball up. We were not aggressive going in."

Despite the cold start, B-CU was down just 8-2 after the first four minutes. Johnson, Anthony Breeze and Garrius Holloman connected on three consecutive trips that closed it to a 11-9 game with 11:27 remaining, but that's as close it got. Auburn led 34-19 at halftime.

Holloman dunked to start the second half, but Gabriel scored seven of Auburn's first nine points of the second half to push the Tiger lead to 43-21. B-CU never got closer than 21 after that.

Johnson was 5-8 on three-pointers to lead the Wildcats.

"Ricky was the only one I thought that was really aggressive," Craig said. "Even going to the ball and trying to make plays, even defensively, he was one of the few guys that I thought was aggressive. That was a plus. I see him getting better, and that's good going into conference play. He's starting to come around. Now we just have to get everyone else back on track."

Said Johnson: "The coaches just told us to come out and play hard and play tough and be aggressive, so that is what I wanted to do. I was playing aggressive and the shots just started falling for me. We have to compete and not give up. I feel like in our next game and in the conference we just need to play hard."

Holloman had nine points and five rebounds. Breeze finished with six points, while Javoris Bryant and Marc Mack each had five boards.