Jamar Smith finished with a career-high 34 points along with 12 rebounds.
Boxscore
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Freshman Darryl Demps' free throw with 12.9 seconds left lifted the Florida A&M Rattlers to razor-thin 90-89 overtime victory over the first place Morgan State Bears in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball game Saturday evening in Gaither Gym.
With the score tied 89-89 and both teams in the double bonus (automatic two free throws from the 10th team foul on), the Tallahassee yearling went to the charity line, missing the first, but swishing the second for a 90-89 FAMU lead.
Morgan State (15-9, 9-2) had one more chance at the win, but Karanvir Aujla turned the ball over with 0.6 seconds left, giving FAMU the ball and the win, ending a four-game losing streak for the Rattlers (9-15, 5-6 in MEAC).
The visiting Bears got off to the races early in the game, building a 47-33 halftime lead on 53 percent floor shooting, leading by as much as 21 points in the opening period.
In the second half, the Rattlers caught fire, out slugging the Bears, 49-35, getting clutch foul shooting (16 of 19) and 54 percent floor shooting to pull themselves back into contention.
Morgan led 78-63 on a Jermaine Bolden three-pointer with 4:07 left in regulation, but the Rattlers behind the play of veterans Lamar Twitty and Joe Ballard, plus freshman Larry Jackson, went on a 19-4 run to pull even with the Bears, 82-82 with 41 seconds to play.
Twitty's clutch three-pointer capped the Rattlers run, then after a missed Bolden jumper for Morgan, Twitty missed a three-pointer at the end of regulation.
In the overtime, Morgan jumped ahead, 86-82 on two foul shots by Boubacar Coly and a slam dunk by Jamar Smith. FAMU would eventually tie the score at 87-87 on a three-pointer by Ballard with 1:32 left.
Coly cashed in two more charity shots for Morgan with 1:11 left in the overtime for an 89-87 Bears lead, but Twitty tipped in a missed shot by Demps to knot the score at 89-89 with 43 seconds left.
After a Morgan turnover, Demps was fouled with 12.9 seconds left, missing the first foul shot, but making the second for the lead and the win, 90-89.
Jamar Smith finished with a game-high 34 points for Morgan, scoring 20 in the second half alone. Smith also hauled down 12 rebounds for the Bears, who got 14 points and 14 rebounds from Coly, 11 points from Aujla and 10 points from Bolden.
