Karsceal Turner – I Got Next!
The atmosphere in historic Richard V. Moore gymnasium was electric Saturday afternoon when the Savannah State Tigers came to town. The home standing Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats were coming off a two-win streak when former B-CU coaches Horace Broadnax and Clifford Reed returned to the gym which gave both men their collegiate coaching starts.
This time, the former coaches came in and put it on their former employers in a 50-40 win. Malik Jackson scored 12 points as Bethune-Cookman dropped a 50-40 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game to Savannah State Saturday afternoon.
The Wildcats (4-20, 2-7) saw their two-game winning streak snapped. Savannah State (8-14, 6-2) had lost its last two games.
In a game which saw nine lead changes, B-CU scored the first eight points of the second half to take a 30-26 lead on two Clemmye Owens free throws with 17:43 left and led 33-28 on a Jackson three-pointer with 14:17 to play.
Savannah State took a 35-33 lead on an Alante Fenner three-pointer. A Tony Kynard fast-break lay-up tied with 11:24 left, but the Tigers scored 11 unanswered points and played lock down defense to take control.
Kynard had eight for B-CU, while Maurice Taylor contributed six points and five rebounds. Fenner led the Tigers with 18 points.
Indeed, it was a bitter-sweet situation to see my former coaches in Broadnax and Reed pacing the sidelines at the other end of the court. I’m certain the B-CU students who camped out behind the visitor’s bench didn’t give a rat’s ass. They heckled both former coaches as if they had never visited the venue.
Broadnax was twice selected as the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Coach of the Year (1999 and 2000) while serving as the head coach at Bethune-Cookman College. He left the team in 2002 for family reasons.
Broadnax became the men’s head basketball coach of Savannah State in 2005. In his sixth year as the head coach of the Tigers, he was named the MEAC Coach of the Year as he guided his team to a 14-2 conference record and their first MEAC regular season title.
Clifford Reed, Jr. served four years as an assistant coach under former Bethune-Cookman Head Coach Horace Broadnax. When Broadnax left in 2002, He took over just 11 games before the end of the 2001-02 season.
Reed was fired from B-CU in 2011 for. During that 2010-11 season, the Wildcats (21-13, 13-3) won the MEAC regular season crown and made the NIT tournament, their first-ever postseason berth. B-CU was 8-0 in conference road games, winning eight games by three points or less.
Reed was named MEAC Coach of the Year and District 15 Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. His son C.J., who starred on the team, was HBCU and MEAC Player of the Year while earning All-American honors. C.J. is sixth (1,654 points) on the school’s all-time scoring list.
The pair helped the Daytona Beach-based University to its best season since B-CU joined the NCAA’s Division I. They also became the first son and father duo to win the conference titles at the same time. C.J. received his B.A. from Georgia Southern after scoring his 2000th point as a baller for the Eagles.
Yeap, revenge is best served with a 10-point win, and a collegiate bachelor’s degree.
Coach Reed is too classy to speak on how relishing the win must have been but he’s too busy preparing for a showdown with FAMU Monday when the Tigers arrive in Tallahassee. I was salty enough to say it personally as he is a good friend and round-about mentor.
Back to the woes of the Wildcats, this certainly hasn’t been a story-book season for them. With that ugly 2-7 conference record, they have only four teams below them in the MEAC.
The Wildcats host South Carolina State Monday night. Delaware State comes to town Feb. 15 and then its off to the Tar Heel State for a showdown with N.C. Central and N.C. A&T.
Currently four teams are 3-4 with 7 games remaining until the MEAC tournament March 10-15 in Norfolk, VA.
