By PAO Liam Antinori
USS Eisenhower PAO Staff

NORFOLK, Va. -- Bethune-Cookman's journey to the tourney ended Thursday night with a 57-50 loss to Savannah State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournamentquarterfinals.

The Tigers (16-14) will face top-seeded Hampton in the semifinals Friday. The Wildcats' season concludes with a 14-18 mark.

Bethune-Cookman defeated Savannah State 62-59 the first time they faced off earlier in the season, but a season-low 20-point half put the Wildcats in a 10-point hole.

Still, behind Mario Moody and Jordan Potts, the Wildcats stormed back and let 48-42 on two Moody free throws with 5:29 left.

Trailing 51-50, the Tigers took control on consecutive three pointers by Javaris Jenkins with 51 seconds remaining and a Khalen Pinkett three-pointer with 28 seconds to play.

Bethune-Cookman trailed by as many as 11, but managed to regain the lead on two Potts free throws with 9:10 remaining that made it 40-38.

Moody led Bethune-Cookman with 14 points and 13 rebounds while Potts followed with 13 points and nine boards. Ricky Johnson, in his final Wildcat game,
posted seven points while Marquel Ingram and Laron Smith had six apiece.

Jenkins led Savannah State with 12 points and nine rebounds.

HEAD COACH GRAVELLE CRAIG

"Epic battle. Every time we play them, it's a low scoring game. We just came up a little short.”

"The team made adjustments. There were a lot of missed shots. we were just sluggish in the first half. But we made some adjustments defensively to open up the floor a little bit. Went to a box-and-one. We just wanted to drive the ball a little bit. We were 1-for-13 during the first half, so we just wanted to drive the ball and try to get some fouls and free throws and get some easy baskets.”

"I kind of figured we were going to be a little rusty, but not to that point. We were just sluggish the first half.”

JORDAN POTTS

“It was a weird game for me personally. I just couldn't get going.”

MARIO MOODY

“We over-achieved what people said in the preseason. We definitely faced adversity down the stretch in MEAC play. We got to a place where they had us at the bottom and ended up in the top four. I think that was good for our team.”

NOTES:
1) This was Moody's was second straight double-double and eight of the season.
2) B-CU also matched a season-low with 4 three-pointers
3) Smith had two blocks, giving him a school record 94. Moody finished with 73.