BALTIMORE, Md. – A layup by
Chad Andrews-Fulton with 12 seconds left gave the Coppin State men's basketball team its first win of the season in dramatic fashion, a 79-78 double-overtime thriller over Florida A&M at the PEC Arena on Monday night. The victory was also the first for first-year head coach
Juan Dixon as the Eagles now stand at 1-2 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and 1-17 overall. The Rattlers fall to 2-17 on the year with an identical 1-2 mark in the MEAC.
Andrews-Fulton led all scorers with a career-high 19 points to go with a career-high nine rebounds off the bench. A junior from Philadelphia, who played his junior college ball at nearby Baltimore City CC, Andrews-Fulton made 6-of-8 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the charity stripe to go with two assists, a block and three steals.
Four other Eagles reached double figures to help Coppin score its season-high on the year.
Karonn Davis and
Lamar Morgan each scored 14 points while
Cedric Council and
Tre' Thomas added 11 and 10 points, respectively. Coppin just missed out on a sixth double figure scorer as
Taqwain Drummond added nine points but he also pulled down seven rebounds and played great defense throughout the night.
The lead traded sides a few times in the second overtime but with the game tied at 75 with 52 seconds left, Thomas hit a jumper to give Coppin back the lead. Twenty seconds later, FAMU's Justin Ravenel buried a three from the corner to put the Rattlers up, 78-77, before Andrews-Fulton's acrobatic layup with 12 seconds left gave the Eagles the win.
This was the first time since November 23, 2007, a 102-99 victory over Southeast Missouri State, which Coppin had won a game that went into double-overtime. The Eagles last double overtime game was on February 18, 2013 at Maryland Eastern Shore.
Coppin led for most of the game and held its largest lead of the night with 10:18 left in regulation after a jumper by Andrews-Fulton in the paint gave the Eagles a 46-37 lead. The Eagles advantage slowly dwindled away and Florida A&M was able to tie the score for the first time since early in the game at 52 after Elijah Mayes buried a three with just under four minutes left.
A layup by FAMU's Desmond Williams followed by a pair of free throws by Marcus Barham then gave the Rattlers its largest lead of the night at 56-52 with 2:55 remaining but Coppin's veteran leader
Karonn Davis would not let the Eagles go away. Driving to the hole on multiple occasions, Davis hit three free throws to cut the deficit to a single point and then hit a layup with 40 ticks left, giving the Navy & Gold a 57-56 advantage.
Barham, who led FAMU with 19 points, then sunk 1-of-2 free throws with four seconds left to tie the score and Davis' desperation heave was long, sending the game into overtime.
Midway through the first overtime, FAMU was able to gain a 63-59 lead with 2:39 left but Coppin's big men with Andrews-Fulton and
Cedric Council came up clutch from the stripe to give Coppin back the lead at 65-63 with 1:15 remaining. Barham was once again able to get to the line and made both to tie the score before Drummond put the eagles back on top by two with 41 seconds remaining.
Elijah Mayes was able to tie the score back up at 67 with 22 seconds left and once again, the Eagles were unable to win in it outright in the closing seconds and the game went into double overtime.
Both teams shot nearly identical from the floor with Coppin holding a slim 45.0% to 44.1% advantage from the floor. FAMU made nine three's compared to just five for the Eagles and both teams shot just over 70% from the stripe on the night.
The Eagles outrebounded Florida A&M, 40-35 and got 34 points in the paint and their bench outscored the Rattlers', 29-7.
With a 20-game losing streak dating back to last season snapped, Coppin will travel to MEAC rivals North Carolina Central on January 13 and North Carolina Central on January 15.
