March 11, 2008

Box Score

Raleigh, N.C. - Jason Flagler scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as No. 8 South Carolina State rallied past No. 9 Bethune-Cookman for a 78-69 win in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament first-round game on Tuesday night at the RBC Center.

The Bulldogs (13-19) advance to a 7 p.m. quarterfinal game on Wednesday against top seed Morgan State. The Wildcats' season ends at 11-21.

Flagler scored nine points in a decisive second-half run that gave SCSU the lead for good. After a three-point play by Bethune-Cookman's Kevan Creppy tied the game at 56-all with 6:27 left, the Bulldogs went on a 15-4 spurt over the next three and a half minutes to take a 71-60 lead. Flagler started the run with two free throws, and also added a put-back, a three-point play and a short jumper off the glass.

"We've been a slow-starting team all year long, but we picked it up in the second half," SCSU coach Tim Carter said.

There were six lead-changes in the first half, but Bethune-Cookman used a 12-1 run to go into halftime with a 30-25 lead. The Wildcats held SCSU to just one Julius Carter free throw and no field goals over the final 5:38 in the half. B-CU forced 10 SCSU turnovers and held the Bulldogs to 37.5 percent shooting in the first half.

But the Bulldogs heated up in the second half, mixing in 3-pointers by Jessie Burton, Everett Spencer and Thomas Bookman with the inside game of Flagler and Carter. SCSU shot 60 percent (18-of-30) from the floor in the second half to end the game at 50 percent overall (27-of-54).

The Bulldogs sealed the win by making 7-of-8 from the free throw line over the final two minutes.

John Holmes and Dewayne Pettus scored 17 points apiece for Bethune-Cookman, which played just seven players and was without injured third-leading scorer Jimmy Hudson (11.3 points per game). Dominique Whatley chipped in 16 points for the Wildcats.

"I thought the better team won tonight," Bethune-Cookman coach Clifford Reed, Jr. said. "They are bigger and exploited our (lack of) size inside. They shot 60 percent in the second half, and that was the game right there."

Burton added 15 points and made four of SCSU's nine 3-pointers. Carter contributed 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds, and Spencer scored 12 points.

"We have to play the game of our lives tomorrow (against Morgan State)," Carter said. "But this is what we wanted, to be in position to play the No. 1 team."

For the third consecutive year, the Wildcats drop their opening game--just once being outside of the first round. B-CU finished as the second-ranked team in the MEAC back in the 2005-06 campaign, and earned a first round bye. They fell to Coppin State in their first contest. This time, however, the Wildcats were without the services of the team's leading scorer in the form of Jimmy Hudson. This is his fourth consecutive game without playing time for the `Cats.

"Playing without Jimmy made all of us step up," admitted B-CU senior guard Dewayne Pettus. "Jordan [Carrier], myself and John [Holmes] had to step up for Jimmy, but he was another three-point shooter that we needed out on the floor. He caused match-up problems for teams and forced them to try and swing out for our inside game to turn on."

"The last time I checked you could only play five players at a time on the court, and we had that many out each time," expressed Reed when asked about the fact that B-CU was with just seven players. "It did leave us in situations where depth became a problem later, but it was not the ultimate issue. The ultimate is that we have to slow the ball down and if the game was in the 40s to 50s, then that's the game I want my team to play."

For the Wildcats, they do lose Jimmy Hudson, Dewayne Pettus and Jordan Carrier to senior status. Back are key players Dominique Whatley, Kevan Creppy and John Holmes. Holmes is looking forward to making the bets of the off-season and working hard on his game while the coaches get the team ready through recruiting.

"I have to work on what the coaches need me to do, and I am going to help in any way I can with the other guys as well as myself," stated Holmes. "We are finally starting to buy into the system that Coach Reed is teaching us, but tonight was not an expression of that with such a high score. We need to do the little things to make this team better, and just believe that Coach is teaching us the right stuff ... and the rest will come."