March 1, 2008

Final Stats

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida A&M Rattlers outscored visiting Winston-Salem State, 20-12 over the final seven minutes of the game to pull out a 68-61 men's college basketball victory Saturday afternoon in Gaither Gymnasium.

Saturday's win was the third in a row for Florida A&M (12-16), avenging an earlier 59-57 setback at the hands of WSSU on the road in February.

FAMU led 26-20 at the break despite shooting 40.7 percent from the floor to 52.6 percent for the visiting Rams.

The Rattlers built an eight-point lead, 35-27 on a jumper by Akini Akini with 18;11 left, but Darius Floyd capped a 22-13 run by the Rams with a layup at the 7:40 mark to give WSSU a short-lived 49-48 lead.

From there, the Rattlers took control of the game, as junior Lamar Twitty keyed FAMU's finishing flurry with 10 of their 20 points in the final minutes of the game.

Twitty's layup with 7:08 left put FAMU ahead to stay, 50-49, then later, back-to-back three-pointers by Leslie Robinson and Twitty helped build the Rattlers' edge to eight points, 63-55 with three minutes to play.

Twitty scored three of FAMU's last five points at the foul line, as the Rattlers held off a determined Rams' club down the stretch.

Robinson finished the day with a game-high 25 points, including six three-pointers, boosting his season total of trifectas to 90, 13 shy of his 103 goals a year ago. Twitty added 17 points, while Akini nearly had a double-double, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds.

Darrell Wonge led the Rams with 15 points, followed by Darius Floyd and Brian Fisher with 12 points each, while Jamal Durham and Paul Davis each tossed in 10 points.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Rattlers return to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play on Monday night with a nationally-televised bout from Gaither Gymnasium against South Carolina State, beginning at 8 p.m. on ESPNU..... Thursday will be Senior Night, as the Rattlers close the regular season against archrival Bethune-Cookman at 7:30 p.m. in Gaither.