ATLANTA, Ga. – History had no bearing of the effort of the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats Sunday against Georgia Tech, as BCU went toe-to-toe with a postseason Atlantic Coast Conference squad in a narrow 65-62 loss. The Wildcats (1-3) had chance to tie the Yellow Jackets (1-1) in the last moments, but a three-point heave by
Malik Maitland came up just short Sunday afternoon at McCamish Pavilion.
The Wildcats entered the game having never beaten an ACC opponent, and Tech carried an unblemished 30-0 mark against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference members.
Brandon Tabb led all scorers with a season-best 24 points thanks to eight made trifectas, and BCU held the hosts to 39.2% (20-51) shooting. The difference was left at the line, as Tech made 24 of 31 free-throw attempts, and BCU converted only 10 of its 25 tries. BCU converted 19 turnovers into 25 points, and as a team was 12-28 (42.9%) from three.
Shawntrez Davis tallied his third double-double of the season with 12 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. All-ACC performer Ben Lammers paced the Yellow Jackets with 19 points and 13 boards.
The Yellow Jackets took s three-point edge on a pair of made free throws by forward Abdoulaye Gueye with 7.6 seconds remaining. Following the free throws, Maitland released a 3-point shot from the left wing, and Tabb collected the rebound but was unable to release an attempt before the final horn.
Bethune-Cookman returns home to complete the Ramblin' Wreck Showcase on Tuesday, Nov. 21 against Grambling State at 7 p.m. The CatEye Network will carry the action, and tickets are available at the BCU Box Office.
RIDDER POSTGAME QUOTES
Opening statement
"It's been an eight-day road trip and we've challenged our guys to just get better day-by-day and game-by-game. I thought tonight we did a great job of coming out and competing and playing a quality ball club like Georgia Tech. I thought we executed our game plan. We were disciplined. We're proud of our guys' effort. Obviously, we didn't help ourselves from the free throw line. But at the end of the day this thing is a work in progress. [We're] just extremely, extremely proud of our guys taking a step in the right direction for our program."
What do you take away from a game like this?
"You get an opportunity to play a high-major program on the road and get a chance to face some adversity. Being a first year coach and having a lot of new guys the more we can actually play together in these types of environments the better we're going to be in the long run."
Did the long road trip affect the free throw shooting?
"I don't know. I don't have an answer for that one. I feel like we're a solid free throw shooting group. We had the right guys taking the free throws. Maybe it is playing on the road, but we just didn't get it done from that area tonight."
What did you know about Brandon Tabb before arriving at Bethune-Cookman?
"Brandon and I actually go back three or four years. He was at the rival junior college, the College of Central Florida, and we had massive scouting reports on him. I was very familiar with him and his game. When I got hired he was the first to reach out to me. He's given us every ounce that he's had since that April 1st day. He can score it, but equally important is how great of a kid he is and continuing to get better every day."
Will returning home be a positive change for the team?
"We'll be excited to get back to Moore Gymnasium. If you haven't been there, it's one of the greatest college atmospheres out there. We get great support and we're 1-0 there. We think our guys play really, really well [there]. I know they'll be excited to sleep in their own bed. It's a quick turnaround, we play Tuesday, but I think our guys we'll be extremely happy to be back in Moore Gymnasium."
Did your team become less aggressive offensively as the game wore on?
"We challenged our guys to have a disciplined game plan offensively. We didn't want to try to get in a track meet. I know Georgia Tech plays a very unique style. We challenged our guys to take great shots vs. good shots. Maybe some of that tentativeness could have been as things got a little tighter. It's our first time playing a close game, but I thought we did a great job executing offensively. The numbers don't show that we were great, but I thought we controlled the tempo that we wanted."
Why did you decide to press?
"We wanted to take them out of their offense. We didn't want to guard that wheel action for 30 seconds. We decided we'd slow press them and try and get them 7-8 seconds down the floor before they were able to start their offense."
