TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team had plenty of chances to steal a road win from Florida A&M Saturday night. But those opportunities were usually met with missed free throws, missed layups or turnovers.
Allowing too many opportunities to slip by eventually cost the Aggies in a 70-66 loss to the Rattlers at the Al Lawson Center.
Junior center Thomas Coleman led the Aggies with 19 points and 11 rebounds as he recorded his fifth double-double of the season. Senior guard Tavarus Alston added 14 points and three steals for N.C. A&T.
"We just couldn't get over the hump tonight,'' said N.C .A&T head coach Jerry Eaves. "It was always something to do with us. We held ourselves back tonight. We have to learn to seize opportunities when they are there."
N.C. A&T never led Saturday night. However, watching the possessions in which the Aggies had a chance to take the lead and didn't, became agonizing after awhile.
The Rattlers were able to take their biggest lead of the ball game on a Brandon Bryant 3-pointer that gave Florida A&M a 42-31 lead with a little more than 13 minutes remaining. Behind six points from Coleman, the Aggies went 14-4 run over the next four minutes to cut the Rattlers lead to one at 46-45.
Florida A&M guard David Buchannon quickly answered with a short jump shot and a 3-point play by Yannick Crowder pushed the lead out to six with eight minutes to play. Over the next five minutes the Aggies repeatedly cut Florida A&M's lead from five to three or from four to two.
The most frustrating stretch for N.C. A&T started at the 3:30 mark of the second half. The Aggies cut the Rattlers lead to 57-56 on two Coleman free throws. Aggies guard Dwane Joshua was then called for a foul away from the ball on Chris Walker. Walker hit two free throws to give the Rattlers a 59-56 lead.
Over the next two minutes the Aggies missed two free throws, two 3-pointers and two layups. Rasheem Jenkins tilted things in Florida A&M's favor with back-to-back baskets that gave the Rattlers a seven-point advantage with 1:40 remaining.
"When we don't shoot well from the three that's bad for us,'' said Eaves. "Then we shot 57 percent from the free throw line, so when you are having those kinds of issues you can't get continuity (on offense). I can't count the number of times a jump shot rimmed out on us or we missed a layup. We were always a half step away. We were always out of rhythm because our shots wouldn't go down tonight."
Bryant led the Rattlers with 19 points. Larry Jackson added 14 points and eight rebounds. The Aggies are in action again Monday night at 7:30 when they face Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Fla.
