The Florida A&M University Men’s Basketball team fell to the Texas Southern Tigers 62-57. The Rattlers have lost four in a row and fall to eighth in the SWAC.
The Rattlers started off slow, not scoring a single basket until five minutes into the first half. FAMU would take the lead going into the half 31-30 but would allow the Tigers to construct a lead by as much as 10 points. FAMU closely contended the final seconds in hopes to force overtime. However, Jordan Chatman missed from the corner on what would be the final shot of the game.
The Rattlers shot poorly and had a high number of turnovers. FAMU would finish the game shooting 33% overall and 28% from three. Only two players finished with double digit scoring: Micah Octave with 18 points and Antonio Baker Jr. with 11.
FAMU finished the game with 16 turnovers resulting in 17 points for the Tigers and another 13 were given up in transition defense. Many of these turnovers came from bench play.
Coach Ward remained optimistic in a post-game press conference despite the recent losses.
“But now you know we’re losing close games, so we got to work to try to figure out how to get that changed around,” Ward said.
“When you’re winning you find ways to win and when you’re losing, it seems like you find a way to lose and that’s where we are”.
FAMU falls to 8-13 on the season and 5-5 in conference play, while the Tigers improve to 7-14 and 5-5 in conference play. The Rattlers will play the Prairie View A&M University Panthers on Monday Feb. 9 at 7:00 p.m. EST.
