Kevin Thompson collected his ninth double-double of the season (13 pts, 12 rebs)
Boxscore
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Forward Yannick Crowder scored 15 points and Chris Watson had 11 points to lead Florida A&M to a 63-59 victory over Morgan State on Saturday in Tallahassee.
Florida A&M (8-13, 3-6 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) recorded its first win against the Bears since January 17, 2009, and improved to 8-1 on their home court at the Al Lawson Center.
Ameer Ali, who entered the game averaging 6.3 points per game, was the Bears leading scorer tonight by finishing with 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting. The junior also collected four rebounds and two steals.
Sophomore DeWayne Jackson was held well under his 15.7 points per game, as he finished with seven points (1-4 FG), his lone basket coming on a 3-pointer in the final moments of the contest.
Morgan State (10-10, 6-3 MEAC), which entered the game attempting to extend to a 3-game winning streak, erased a 14-point deficit in the second half. The Bears trailed 59-56 with 1:11 remaining on a basket by Kevin Thompson.
Thompson, the reigning 2010 MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, collected his ninth double-double of the season with 13 points (6-13 FG) and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Florida A&M's Chris Watson responded on the other end with a layup, but was called for a charge on DeWayne Jackson. Jackson ended up hitting 1-of-2 from the stripe with 40 seconds remaining, but again, the Rattlers answered when Avery Moore scored a layup to put the Rattlers up by six (63-57). Justin Black converted a pair of free throws with 17.5 seconds left to go, however the Rattlers held on to win 63-59.
Aric Brooks, who fouled out of the game with 1:12 left to play, posted 11 points with five rebounds, and Larry Bastfield added 10 points with four assists.
Morgan State held a 26-19 advantage following a 3-pointer by Aric Brooks with 3:33 to go in the opening half. But Yannick Crowder led the Rattlers on a 10-0 run to close the first half with a 29-26 lead.
The Rattlers never trailed in the second half.
Despite outrebounding Florida A&M by a 36-31 margin, the Bears were outscored 30-24 inside the paint.
Morgan State also found it hard to put the ball in the basket. The Bears shot 38.9 percent (21-54) from the field, while the Rattlers shot a blistering 53.2 percent (25-47), including 13-of-21 in the second half (61.9%).
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