ATLANTA - The Wildcats never quite found their shooting stroke as they saw their season come to an end in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Semifinals for the second consecutive year, this time at the hands of Jackson State, 71-50, Friday night at Gateway Center Arena



FIRST HALF

Bethune-Cookman (17-16, 13-5 SWAC) and Jackson State (16-17, 14-4 SWAC) traded leads in the early goings, swapping spots ten times in the first ten minutes of play as B-CU held a 17-16 lead on a three-shot foul by Brayon Freeman. 

From the seven-minute mark, with B-CU up 19-18, Jackson State scored 10 unanswered to move in front, 29-19 after a pair of missed Wildcat threes. 

The Tigers led by as many as 13 on a Daeshun Ruffin layup with a minute remaining in the half, but Brayon Freeman sank a driving transition layup as the horn sounded to head to the break trailing 35-24. 

SECOND HALF

Despite a slow shooting start for both teams in the second half, the Wildcats cut the deficit to seven on a Tray Thomas jumper to make it 40-33. A Kalil Camara three a minute later kept the Cats within range. 

From there, the Wildcats went scoreelss for nearly four minutes as the JSU lead moved back up to 13 at 49-36 with 11 to go. 

B-CU came as close at 49-39 with 10 minutes remaining, but the Tigers took control from there - Jayme Mitchell's three just before the under-eight media made it a 16-point game, which would balloon to as much as 22 as the Wildcats fell away, 71-50. 

• The Wildcats finish above .500 (17-16) on the season for the first time since the 2017-18 season (18-14). It is the best finish under the tenure of head coach Reggie Theus.
• Daniel Rouzan led the way with 14 points on on 6-15 shooting with eight rebounds.
• Brayon Freeman had 11 with three boards an an assist.
• Jesus Carralero Martin had a team-high nine rebounds.
• B-CU shot just 25 percent from the floor and 11 percent from three. They attempted only 10 free throws on the night. 

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