Tallahassee, Fla. – The 2021-22 season comes to a end for Bethune-Cookman men's basketball at the hands of Florida A&M. The Wildcats finish the season 9-21 and 7-11 in SWAC play after an 84-73 loss to the Rattlers Saturday night in Tallahassee.
How It Happened
A tight first half saw the Wildcats (9-21, 7-11 SWAC) and the Rattlers (13-16, 11-7 SWAC) change leads 11 times. With 30 seconds remaining in the first half, the Wildcats trailed only 31-35, but FAMU pulled ahead in the waning seconds to enter the break up 39-31 – a lead they would never give up.
B-CU shot 43 percent from the field in the half, while FAMU shot over 50 percent.
Joe French led B-CU with ten points at halftime after playing the full 20 minutes.
The offensive slugfest saw both teams shoot above 45 percent from the field. B-CU shot 52 percent in the second half and made four of six threes, while FAMU shot 60 percent and made three of six threes in the second half.
The Wildcats kept things close, but could not pull ahead of the Rattlers in the second half. B-CU cut things to as close as five shortly after halftime, but the Wildcats could not keep up, falling, 84-73.
Joe French,
Marcus Garrett, and
Kevin Davis combined for 55 of the Wildcats 73 points. French and Garrett led with 19. Davis followed at 17.
Damani McEntire also added nine while
Mikey West chipped in seven. Garrett also grabbed six rebounds and four assists.
Though not the ending Wildcats head coach
Reggie Theus wanted, there is plenty to be proud of for the 2021-22 season.
"Winning is a learned process," Theus said after the game. "We learned a lot this year about who we are as a team. I'm proud of our guys. Our margin for error was pretty small, but we battled all year."
With the majority of his roster set to return next season, Theus has reason for excitement in 2022.
"I'm excited about how hard our guys play," Theus said. "We learned a lot about ourselves this season that we can take and build on. When we add a few pieces it's going to be a very different scenario this time next season."
Notes
- The loss officially eliminates B-CU from a SWAC tournament berth.
- Marcus Garrett closes the season scoring over 20 in five of his last seven games and in double figures in his last 14 games of the season after only touching the mark eight times in the season previously.
- Joe French finishes his 2021-22 season as the eighth-most accurate three-point shooter in the country. He shot an impressive 43.64 percent from behind the arc – draining 72 of 165 attempts.
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--#HailWildcats--
