The vibes were high.
The Snake Pit was packed.
And Florida A&M men’s basketball delivered.
In the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season finale on Thursday, March 5, the Rattlers (14-15, 11-7 in SWAC) beat rival Bethune-Cookman Wildcats (17-14, 14-4 in SWAC) 81-77 in front of a lively Al Lawson Jr. Multipurpose Center crowd of 3,100 on FAMU’s Tallahassee campus for Senior Night.
FAMU’s win locked it up at No. 2 out of 12 SWAC teams entering the league tournament, which starts on Monday, March 9. It’s FAMU’s highest SWAC seed since joining the league during the 2021-2022 athletic year.
“We understood the crowd was going to look like that, with the stakes of the game being so high,” FAMU guard Jordan Chatman told the media after the game. “As a competitor, you love stuff like that. So, we took on the challenge. We had to win.”
Under first-year head coach Charlie Ward, the Rattlers ended the regular season outplaying their preseason No. 8 ranking on the SWAC preseason predicted order of finish. Eleven SWAC wins tie for the program’s most in a season, 2021-2022.
The 1993 Heisman winner is a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year and Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year.
Thursday was also FAMU’s first time beating Bethune-Cookman, this year’s SWAC regular season champions, since March 2022. The Rattlers were on a seven-game losing streak to the Wildcats.
“Not today,” Ward said of FAMU’s four-year losing streak to Bethune-Cookman being snapped.
A big three by Jaquan Sanders with a minute left in the second half pulled the Rattlers ahead of the Wildcats 77-75 while sending the sea of Orange and Green into a frenzy. The senior from Far Rockaway, New York, led the Rattlers with 18 points, making three of six three-point attempts.
Late defensive stops and clutch free throws by Kaleb Washington helped secure FAMU’s fourth consecutive win this season. FAMU halted Bethune-Cookman’s four-game winning streak.
The Rattler crowd stormed the court after buzzer sounded.
“Guys are playing good, complementary basketball at the right time,” Ward discussed the winning streak. “We’ve found our niche. The momentum we have ― we got to continue to find a way to keep it and our edge moving forward.”
Following Sanders as double-digit scorers were Tyler Shirley with 17, Antonio Baker Jr. with 14, and Washington with 11.
Another key player was guard Micah Octave, who had a near-double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds. Octave’s glass cleaning led the Rattlers.
FAMU dominated the rebound battle 38-29 and got 16 offensive boards compared to the Wildcats’ seven.
“Can’t talk enough about Micah Octave,” Ward said. “He’s not always the leading scorer, but he does all the necessary things to help us win.”
The SWAC Tournament runs from Monday, March 9, with the championship game scheduled for Saturday, March 14. The 12-team bracket will be played at the Gateway Center Arena in College Park, Georgia, near Atlanta.
Since the Rattlers finished in the top six, they will receive a double-round bye in the SWAC Tournament and begin play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 11, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The Rattlers will match up against the winner of No. 9 Grambling State/No. 12 Mississippi Valley State versus No. 7 Jackson State, which will be settled on Tuesday, March 10, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
If FAMU wins it all, it will win its first-ever SWAC Championship, first conference title since 2007, and clinch the program’s first NCAA Tournament berth since the same year.
FAMU men’s basketball win followed the women’s basketball team ending a six-game losing streak by opening the doubleheader between the SWAC rivals with a 66-60 triumph.
FAMU women’s basketball enters the SWAC Tournament as an eight-seed and has a first-round bye, with action set to begin for them next Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. The Lady Rattlers will face the winner of No. 10 Texas Southern versus No. 11 Bethune-Cookman, who will meet on Monday at 11 a.m.
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time national award-winning reporter for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: How FAMU basketball’s lively crowd sparked long-awaited win vs Bethune-Cookman
Reporting by Gerald Thomas III, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
