ORANGEBURG, S.C. - Adrien Coleman scored 17 points, and
Kevin Dukes scored 13 of his 15 in the second half as Bethune-Cookman fended
off South Carolina State 60-52 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game
Saturday.
The Wildcats (7-12 overall, 2-2 MEAC) defeated the Bulldogs
(4-13,0-4) for the seventh consecutive time dating back to 2011 while winning
for the first time on the road since Nov.
15 at New Orleans.
Point guard Ricky Johnson added nine points and 11 rebounds
as he and Dukes combined to score 11 of the first 17 Bethune-Cookman points of
the second half that allowed Bethune-Cookman to take a 43-33 lead on an Alex
Smith dunk with 12:53 remaining.
The Bulldogs closed to two points twice down the stretch,
the last with 4:14 remaining on a Patrick Myers jumper that made it 49-47.
Two Marc Mack free throws and a Dukes' three-pointer pushed the
B-CU back to seven, 54-47, with 1:56 remaining.
Dukes hit three from behind the three-point line in the
second half as B-CU outshot the Bulldogs 44 percent to 39 percent from the
field in the final 20 minutes.
Coleman had 11 first-half points as B-CU turned an 11-6
deficit into an 18-13 lead on Allen Dempster's lay-up with 7:07 left.
South Carolina State managed a pair of two-point leads, but two Javoris Bryant free throws gave B-CU
a 24-22 lead with 2:15 remaining, then Coleman made two free throws with two
seconds left to send the Wildcats into the locker room ahead 26-24.
Bryant had six points and six rebounds for the Wildcats.
Khalif Toombs led South Carolina State with 16 points, while
Darryl Palmer had 11 rebounds.
B-CU travels to Savannah State for a Monday contest at 7:30
to be televised on ESPNU.
HEAD COACH GRAVELLE CRAIG
"Any time you win on the road is good. Now we have an
opportunity to get two and make up for a
loss at home."
"We're getting better defensively. We improved from last game
and made some adjustments. Bottom line is we played tough."
On Ricky Johnson's 11 rebounds.
"It doesn't surprise me. He's the toughest kid on the team. He's the
leader and the quarterback, but he's tough and he's going to have games like
this."
"We able to get out in transition because we got stops . We were able to get
some easy baskets and get to the line, but we have to get stops and rebound the
ball."
KEVIN DUKES
"I got my legs in front of me on my shot and I hit a couple. It
was good to get this conference win. We
needed to get one back."
RICKY JOHNSON
"I'm just playing hard and doing what coach asks me to do.
If it takes me getting 11 rebounds for us to get the win, that's what I'll do."
NOTES: Dukes now has 998 career points and will become B-CU's
26th 1,000 point scorer with his next FG or two FTs ... South Carolina
State's 52 points was the lowest for any opponent B-CU has faced on the road
this season ... Smith and SCSU's Matthew Hezekiah were teammates at both Lee HS
in Jacksonville and Florida State
College ... B-CU is now 2-9 on the road
this season, excluding one neutral site game.
