Karsceal Turner – I Got NEXT!
When the dust settled in historic Richard V. Moore Saturday afternoon, both Wildcats hoops teams were vigilant. The Lady Cats set the tone with a 76-64 win over the Lady Rattlers.
Did I mention that B-CU’s president Edison Jackson served as a volunteer coach for this contest? Yeah….Dr. J looked a tad out of sorts sitting in the middle of a Lady Cat squad, which averages 5’ 7” and whose tallest player is 6’4”, but one could see his fervor for the game. He was solid on the bench clapping after B-CU scores and standing in the huddle during timeouts. I’m sure this was a different look from lobbying for funding, networking with deep pocket contributors, and enhancing institutional notoriety, (as university presidents are known to do). Had to give Mr. President some love, but anyway back to the game.
If you saw what I saw, you know they damn near gave that game away, folks.
Kendra Cooper scored 22 points and Jasmine Knowles dropped a career-high 20 as Bethune-Cookman completed its first season sweep of Florida A&M in the Vanessa Blair-Lewis era with a 76-64 victory Saturday afternoon.
Terrenisha Hollis added 14 points and Emily Williams 11 as the Lady Wildcats (11-14 overall, 8-5 overall) used a 15-0 run to pull away from a 33-32 game to take a 48-32.
Bethune-Cookman built that lead to 65-43, and as I said earlier, they tried to give it away. The Rattlers (8-17, 5-8) made a late run that got it down to 68-62.
As I was screaming my lungs out for the Lady Cats to take better care of the ball, stop rushing shots, and control the tempo better to preserve their one-time 20-point lead, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a different blur of that disgusting Green and Orange.
It was the Florida A&M cheerleaders. It’s difficult to NOT dig cheerleaders folks, even if they are arch-rivals of one’s alma mater. Hey, they did their thing while trying to call out the B-CU cheerleaders with tumbles and somersaults the length of the court. Although it was a tad late in the action, B-CU’s cheer squad also showed their tumbling prowess.
For added measure, the cub cats, (pee wee cheerleaders), wowed the audience with some stunts and formations to prove they have accepted the torch to represent Daytona Beach in the very near future. Bravo jitterbugs!
Cage cats slay Rattlers 64-57
The next game of the afternoon featured the Cage Cats versus the Rattlers. After the women handled their business, there was about half an hour between the games. This was more than enough time for B-CU’s Pep Band to make an entrance. Band Director Donovan Wells even made a cameo in front of the stage. In addition, I was able to kick it with Super Bowl champion and Pro-Bowler Nick Collins, formerly of B-CU and the Green Bay Packers. He had three jitterbugs in tow and was doing his “Dad” thing. All three had Rita frozen cups. I bid him “good luck” with that inevitable sugar rush and made my way back to courtside. I’ll be damned if my camera battery didn’t die before the Wildcats got things going. No worries, I had my trusty camera phone on the Galaxy S3. As always the Moore gymnasium was filled to its 2000 seat capacity. It was truly a site to behold and was much more intimate than that Arena on the hill in Tallahassee.
The cage (as it is billed) was standing room only for this match-up which also happened to be basketball homecoming and “Senior Night”. Three Wildcats players Mikel Trapp, Brandon Stewart, Troy Simmons and Maurice Taylor all put in work for the last time in a B-CU home game. The Cats certainly gave patrons their money’s worth. Mikel Trapp hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:06 to help Bethune-Cookman pull away and beat Florida A&M 64-57 on Saturday.
I had the chance to chat with former B-CU and NFL great Jack “Cy” McClairen. Coach “Cy” and I are great friends. Just a shout out. He was sitting directly behind B-CU’s bench (where I sit when not working).
Florida A&M’s Jorge Rosa made his sixth 3-pointer to tie the game at 56 with 2:18 remaining. After Travis Elliott took a charge to give the Wildcats the ball back.
Brandon Stewart dished to Trapp for his trey, sparking an 8-1 surge that sealed the Wildcats’ second straight victory and gave them a season sweep of the Rattlers. He also led the Wildcats (10-17 overall, 6-6 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) with 20 points. Trapp finished with 14 points and Ricky Johnson chipped in 12 with four assists.
Jermaine Ruttley had a double-double with 17 points and 16 boards, and finished with six assists and four steals to lead Florida A&M (1-25, 1-12). Rosa finished with 22 points, including 6 of 9 from long range.
The win gave the Wildcats their first season sweep of the Rattlers since 2011. B-CU is now .500 in MEAC play for the first time since February 2013…Stewart registered his fifth 20-point game; the Wildcats are 4-1 when he scores 20…Johnson has been in double figures nine straight games. The Wildcats had missed all 14 of their second-half three-pointers before Trapp connected.
B-CU travels to Savannah for a matchup with the Savannah State Tigers Wednesday. I intend to get at him during practice early in the week if possible. After the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in March, I’m thinking of switching my scope to baseball to stay productive, in between Orlando Magic games… all for you cause I STILL got Next!
