Daytona Beach, Fla. – Kevin Davis’s double-double led Bethune-Cookman men’s basketball to a resounding 66-59 victory over FAMU to open SWAC play, Monday night at Moore Gymnasium.
In a game that featured seven lead changes, the Wildcats (3-9, 1-0 SWAC) came out on top thanks to Davis’s 26 points and 13 rebounds on 11-17 shooting in only 28 minutes of play. Davis turned in several highlight-reel dunks to extend the Wildcats’ lead in the second half.
Wildcats head coach Reggie Theus liked the effort he saw from Davis in the win.
“You look at KJ’s numbers, that is a big-time game,” Theus said. “The best part was, a lot of it came on plays where we didn’t run the play for him – they were hustle plays.”
Every Wildcat to enter the game scored at least four points. Collins Joseph finished with 14 – including an electric tip-in slam in the second-half – and Marcus Garrett finished with 8. The Wildcats shot 39 percent from the field as a team and only 13 percent from three-point range, but B-CU dominated the paint en route to the victory.
Theus applauded his team’s defensive efforts as a key to the victory.
“You win with defense,” Theus said. “I thought that our guys did a very good job of shutting them down on the defensive end. I thought Damani (McEntire) did a great job defensively on their best player.”
Perhaps most importantly, Theus’s first SWAC win came against a historic rival for the Wildcats.
“It’s a rivalry that’s got a lot of legs, and we want to do everything we can to keep the rivalry going,” Theus said. ” They are well coached, and we feel great about beating them. I feel even better beating them for my first conference victory.”
FAMU (2-10, 0-1 SWAC) was led in the scoring column by M.J Randolph, who scored 17 and added nine rebounds. The Rattlers shot 42 percent in the game and made only two of 14 three-point attempts.
Courtesy: Bethune-Cookman Athletics
