FORT VALLEY, GA –
James Barnes posted a double-double with a team-high 17-points and 10 rebounds in route to Fort Valley State University Wildcats basketball team 68-67 victory over the Tigers of Benedict College Thursday night at the HPE Complex on Fort Valley State's campus.
The win made it three wins in a row and improved their overall record to 5-3 and 3-0 in the SIAC. Benedict dropped to 7-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
Barnes scored on 6-for-9 shots from the field, made 5-of-6 free throws, and dished out two assists.
Walter Foster's efforts gained him a game-high 13 rebounds, nine points and three blocks.
Jamaal Garror and
Tyler Edwards added 12-points each, while Edwards and
J. R. Bryant chipped in for a game-high three assists.
Brandon Morris led Benedict with 19-points and nine boards.
FVSU went to the locker room up 33-32 on the back of the team hitting just 30.6 percent shooting from the floor and 34.4 percent (22-of-64) shots for the game. The team made 28.6 percent of their three point attempts and claimed 75 percent (18-of-24) free throw shots. The Wildcats were one better in the paint with 25-points to 24. FVSU got 17-points off second chance shots, but only 10-points from their bench.
The Wildcats trailed for more of the first half and fell down by as many as five points. Benedict controlled the half until
Walter Foster's jumper at the 1:06 mark to put FVSU up by one (33-32) heading into the locker room. In the second half, the Wildcats jumped out to their largest lead of 14-points on
Trey Elliott's 3-pointer with 10:25 remaining. The Tigers just would not go away, as they fought back to close the gap to one (63-64) with 2:23 left. From there. Foster hit a free throw to up the score to 67-63. With 23 seconds left, Edwards made the backend of two free throws to increase the score to 68-65. Jelani Watson-Gayle for Benedict made it exciting with his layup with one second left 68-67.
The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday, December 2 at 3 pm as they take on Claflin University at the HPE Complex.
