The Morgan State men?s basketball team had its eight game winning streak end with a 90-89 in overtime against Florida A&M in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday.
The Bears (15-9, 9-2) led by as many as 21 points, but couldn?t put the Rattlers away, as Florida A&M ended regulation on a 19-4 run and rallied from a 78-63 deficit with four minutes, seven seconds remaining. Freshman forward Darryl Demps made 1-of-2 free throws with 12.9 seconds left to break an 89-89 tie after the Rattlers trailed by as many as four in the extra session. Morgan State had a chance to win, but guard Karanvir Aujla turned the ball over with six-tenths of a second remaining.
Guard Jamar Smith scored a game-high 34 points on 15-of-24 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds, and forward Boubacar Coly had 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Morgan State is tied with Norfolk State (13-10, 9-2) atop the conference standings in the race for the league title and automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament. The Bears, who have never been to the postseason as a Division I program, return to action tonight at 7:30 at Bethune-Cookman (10-15, 4-7) in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Bethune-Cookman, however, should play much tighter defense than the Rattlers, as the Wildcats yield a league-low 59.7 points per game and letting teams shoot just 42.7 percent from the floor. The Wildcats are paced by junior forward John Holmes (13.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and senior guard Jimmy Hudson (12.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg).
