DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Cletrell Pope scored 20 points while
Isaiah Bailey double-doubled with 18 points and 10 rebounds as Bethune-Cookman snapped a five-game losing streak with an 85-56 victory over Marist Saturday afternoon in Moore Gym.
Wali Parks and
Leon Redd added 13 and 12 points respectively as the Wildcats (6-7) returned home after an eight-game road trip. BCU is 3-0 at home so far this season.
Pope and Bailey were a combined 22-25 from the free throw line, and BCU finished the day 27-31 (87.1 percent) as a team from the charity stripe.
BCU jumped out to early leads of 5-0 and 18-9 before Marist (1-8) closed to two points on three occasions, the last on Tyler Saint-Furcy's lay-up with 5:42 that cut it to a 25-23 game.
Redd connected on consecutive three-pointers as the Wildcats pushed their lead to 40-27 at halftime.
Pope had 15 second half-points as BCU held Marist to 2-12 shooting to start the second half and built a 56-33 on Bailey's free throw with 13:46 remaining. The Red Foxes never got closer than 19 points after that.
Malik Maitland and
Joe French each hit a pair of three-pointers to finish with six points, while
Jordan Preaster added five.
Jordan Jones led Marist with 14 points.
BCU returns to action Dec. 29 at St. Louis.
NOTES: BCU is 6-0 when three players or more score double figures … This was Pope's 12th career 20-point game and fourth this season ..Bailey now has three career double-doubles ...The Wildcats matched a season high with 10 three-pointers … Parks had a season-high three 3FGs in his first double-figure scoring game since Eastern Illinois.