{"id":180246,"date":"2026-03-06T03:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T03:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:44:09","slug":"b-cu-loses-nail-biter-to-florida-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/180246\/","title":{"rendered":"B-CU Loses Nail-Biter to Florida A&#038;M"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>                    &#13;<br \/>\n                        &#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Southwestern-Athletic-Conference.png\" alt=\"Southwestern Athletic Conference\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Next Game:<\/p>\n<p>vs. Southwestern Athletic Conference<\/p>\n<p>3\/9\/2026 | <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                    Mar. 09 (Mon) &#13;\n                <\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-opponent-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Southwestern-Athletic-Conference.png\" alt=\"Southwestern Athletic Conference\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                        vs.\u00a0Southwestern Athletic Conference&#13;\n                    <\/p>\n<p>                    <a class=\"sidearm-story-template-next-game-details-history\" href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/opponent-history\/southwestern-athletic-conference\/1386\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">History <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                             &#13;<\/p>\n<p>                    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. &#8211; The Wildcats came up short in a back-and-forth game against Florida A&amp;M 81-77 at the Al Lawson Center.<\/p>\n<p>.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Header How it Happened\" data-airgap-id=\"60\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/How_it_Happened.png\" style=\"display: inline-block;\" width=\"300\"\/>&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"578\" data-start=\"417\">1st Half<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nBethune-Cookman and Florida A&amp;M were locked into a tightly contested first half, with neither team able to gain much separation. The largest lead for either team was just four points.<\/p>\n<p>The Wildcats shot 46.2% overall while holding the Rattlers to 38.2%. But FAMU was the better team on the glass, out-rebounding B-CU 23-15.<\/p>\n<p>Bethune-Cookman did not make a three-pointer and missed four free-throws in the frame. <a href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/ariel-bland\/11286\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"11286\" target=\"_blank\">Ariel Bland<\/a> led the way with 10 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>2nd Half<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nThe second half picked up right where the first half left off as both teams traded the lead back-and-forth.<\/p>\n<p>B-CU was able to take its largest lead of the game with 7:29 remaining after a dunk by <a href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/ariel-bland\/11286\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"11286\" target=\"_blank\">Ariel Bland<\/a>. But the Rattlers quickly fought back to tie the game at 65.<\/p>\n<p>With 2:51 to go, <a href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/daniel-rouzan\/11281\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"11281\" target=\"_blank\">Daniel Rouzan<\/a> converted an and-one opportunity to give the Wildcats a five point lead, but once again FAMU responded. They went on an 8-0 scoring run to retake the lead.<\/p>\n<p>After a missed free-throw by the Rattlers, B-CU had a chance to tie or take the lead with just 11 seconds left. <a href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/jordan-johnson\/11291\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"11291\" target=\"_blank\">Jordan Johnson<\/a> fired off a three-pointer on the other end, but it didn&#8217;t fall and Florida A&amp;M held on to win.<\/p>\n<p>The Wildcats shot better than the Rattlers in the second but struggled to take care of the basketball. They finished the half with eight compared to just four for FAMU.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Notes &amp; Stats In-Story Header\" data-airgap-id=\"61\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Notes_Stats.jpg\" style=\"display: inline-block;\" width=\"300\"\/><br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/jakobi-heady\/11289\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"11289\" target=\"_blank\">Jakobi Heady<\/a> led the Wildcats with 19 points.&#13;<br \/>\n\tJaquan Sanders led the Rattlers with 18 points.&#13;<br \/>\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/bcuathletics.com\/sports\/mens-basketball\/roster\/ariel-bland\/11286\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"11286\" target=\"_blank\">Ariel Bland<\/a> recorded a double-double with a career-high 14 points and 10 rebounds.&#13;<br \/>\n\tBethune-Cookman was out-rebounded by FAMU 38-29.&#13;<br \/>\n\tB-CU finished with 16 turnovers to just nine for the Rattlers.&#13;<br \/>\n\tThe Rattlers made four three-pointers than the Wildcats.&#13;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Up Next In-Story Header\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Up_Next.jpg\" style=\"display: inline-block;\" width=\"300\"\/><br \/>\nBethune-Cookman will head to Atlanta for the SWAC tournament as the conference&#8217;s number one seed. The Cats&#8217; first opponent is TBD.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Bethune-Cookman\u00a0Men&#8217;s Basketball on Twitter (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/bcuhoops\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/bcuhoops\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BCU<\/a>Hoops) and Instagram (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bcu_hoops\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@BCU<\/a>_Hoops) for all of the latest news and updates. For all Bethune-Cookman Athletics news, follow us on Twitter (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/bcuathletics\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@BCUAthletics<\/a>), Instagram (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bcu_athletics\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@BCU_Athletics<\/a>) and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bcuathletics.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BCUathletics.com<\/a>.<br aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" tabindex=\"-1\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; &#13; &#13; Next Game: vs. Southwestern Athletic Conference 3\/9\/2026 | &#13; Mar. 09 (Mon) &#13; &#13; vs.\u00a0Southwestern&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-180246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}