Jan. 26, 2008

Box Score

Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP) - Kyle White made two free throws with 16.8 seconds left as Delaware State came from behind to beat Bethune-Cookman 69-66 in overtime.

They say the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is tough, and you can never look at your opponents' record when entering any game. The same was true on Saturday evening as B-CU nearly pulled off the upset of defending regular-season champion Delaware State amidst one of many "race weekends" at the sunny/lazy community of Daytona Beach. The action was hot the entire way, and both teams felt like they were the ones participating in the on-going Rolex 24-hour race at the nearby Daytona Internation Speedway when all was said and done.

White's points gave Delaware St. a six-point lead, 67-61, which was cut in half when Bethune-Cookman's Jimmy Hudson nailed a 3-pointer with 7.5 seconds left.

The Hornets, who hit 17 of 19 free throws in the final 15 minutes, escaped with their fourth win in their last five games.

Roy Bright's 17 points paced the Hornets (4-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, 7-10). Donald Johnson and Joe Dickens added 16 each.

Hudson scored 21 points for the Wildcats, and John Holmes adding 17 and Dewayne Pettus 15.

Bethune-Cookman (7-12, 2-4 MEAC) jumped to a 28-14 halftime lead and owned its largest lead of 16 points, 36-20, with 15:19 left in the second half.

But Bright's jump shots helped bring the Hornets back. He scored all 17 his points after halftime, including the basket that sent the game into overtime.

The Hornets took their first lead of the game at 3:32 of overtime on a 3-pointer by Johnson. Another Johnson 3-pointer at 1:50 gave Delaware St. the lead for good.

For the Wildcats, this was their second consecutive overtime loss at home after falling to Florida A&M, 68-62 back on Mar. 3, 2007 as a part of a "B-CU Senior Appreciation Day."

Bethune-Cookman will look to snap their current two-game conference losing skid on Monday night as they host the University of Maryland Eastern Shore at 7:30 pm inside Moore Gymnasium.

Live stats will be available through Game Tracker on www.BCCathletics.com--the official home for all 17 varsity sports of the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman University.