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March 9, 2010 Final Stats Updated B-CU 32-game stats/scores (17-15) Contact B-CU SID Mark Johnson (386) 481-2206 - WINSTON-SALEM, NC - Bethune-Cookman forced 17 FAMU turnovers and scored 18 points off turnovers to beat the Rattlers 64-53 in the opening round of the MEAC Tournament Tuesday night. B-CU (17-15) secures its second straight winning season (the only two ever in Division I play) with the win and sets up a Wednesday night matchup with MEAC nemesis Delaware State. DSU has beat the Wildcats twice this year, both by 17 points. The win Tuesday night avenged the 69-64 loss at FAMU last Thursday in Tallahassee to close the regular season. "This was a hard-fought victory and we always have close games with them (FAMU). They are our rival and we came out and played hard from a defensive standpoint," said B-CU Head Coach Cliff Reed. "We came back and made some adjustments from the other night (last week 69-64 loss at FAMU). We needed to have our defensive intensity to be much better tonight. The last time we played they scored 49 points in the second half alone. We like to slug it out and we turned it up defensively." FAMU Coach Eugene Harris talked about the turnovers. "The key to tonight's game was this - we made too many turnovers and they scored points off our turnovers," said Coach Harris. Bethune-Cookman led 33-23 at halftime with balanced scoring for the Wildcats in the first 20 minutes leading the way - C. J. Reed 9, Stanley Eliott 6, Kevin Dukes 6, Albert Abrahams and Tyrel Adams 4 each in the first half.
"Our objective was to play good transition defense and not let them get offense off our turnovers and missed shots and we did that (B-CU had only 7 turnovers in the ball game). Defensive intensity and playing with passion, and pride and energy." FAMU shot only 33% in the first half (7-21). FAMU (9-22) closed to within five points twice in the second half (last time at 44-39 with 10:29 left) but B-CU made its free throws down the stretch (11-16 in second half) and was led by Reed's 8-8 free throws in the final twenty minutes. C. J. Reed led all scorers with 23 points and the first team All-MEAC player had five assists and only one turnover in 40 minutes played for the winners. Sophomore Stanley Elliott had a solid tournament game scoring 12 points and 8 rebounds. Freshman Kevin Dukes scored 10 points and Albert Abrahams had eight points and seven rebounds for the Cage 'Cats. No rest at all for the Wildcats, they take on #2 seed Delaware State, Wednesday night, in the 9:30 p.m. EST matchup. Catch all the action WELE Radio 1380 AM with the Voice of the Wildcats - Mike Johnson.
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