DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ricky Johnson scored 24 points, but Bethune-Cookman dropped a 74-70 decision to UMES Saturday night in Moore Gym.
Mike Myers scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Hawks (11-10 overall, 4-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) defeated the Wildcats for the first time since 2010.
The Hawks led by as many as 10 in the second half, but Bethune-Cookman (6-14, 2-4) battled back and a 3-pointer by Brandon Stewart trimmed the lead to two with 16 seconds left. A Devin Martin dunk on the next possession however, put the game away.
Dominique Elliott added a career-high 14 points off the bench on 7-of-7 shooting for Maryland-Eastern Shore.
Johnson was 5 of 9 from beyond the arc in his second straight 20-point game. Stewart added 19 points and DeLino Dear pulled in 12 boards for his third consecutive double-figure rebounding game. Dear and Mikel Trapp each finished with eight points.
The Wildcats saw their last lead at 19-17 on a Dear jumper with 10:10 remaining in the first half. The Hawks pulled away from a 21-21 tie to take a 41-31 halftime.
Bethune-Cookman hosts Howard Monday night at 7:30 p.m.
RICKY JOHNSON
"[UMES forward Mike Myers] reminded of a taller version of [former B-CU player] Anthony Breeze."
"I don't think I made a three for the first half of the season and that was hurting us. The rim was as big as the ocean tonight."
BRANDON STEWART
}We played well, but they beat us up inside. We want to keep teams under 60 points."
HEAD COACH GRAVELLE CRAIG
"Mike Myers is a 6-8 Anthony Breeze. UMES has a good team right now."
"We got stagnant against the zone in the first half. We were in the bonus, so we could have driven to basket. We had to spend the second half fighting back. We competed. We've played a couple of the better teams in the league now, we just have to get over the hump."
NOTES: This was the first back-to-back 20 point games of Johnson's career and first for a B-CU player since Adrien Coleman had 28 and 24 point nights against Coppin State and Norfolk State at the MEAC tournament ... The 70 points were B-CU's third-highest point total of the season ...B-CU hadn't lost three conference games at home since 2010... In the stands: Orlando Magic forward Kyle O'Quinn.
