Courtesy of GSU Athletic Communications
Grambling State’s James Flippin scored a career-high 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Tigers fell to Bethune-Cookman 78-71 at Moore Gymnasium on Monday night.
Flippin was 8-of-18 from the field, adding two rebounds and two blocks, in his first double-double effort of the year. Kentavious Dozier was the only other Tiger to reach double-figures, scoring 18 points to go along with three assists and two board.
GSU (9-20 overall, 6-10 SWAC) trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half but battled back to make a game of it in the second half.
Grambling State struggled for much of the first half, finding itself in a 34-15 deficit with 6:44 remaining until halftime.
The Tigers chipped away at the lead, eventually cutting BCU’s lead to 36-30 on an Emeka Nnaji layup with 2:17 on the clock. The Wildcats quickly pushed its cushion back to double digits, going up 43-30 with 1:01 left in the half.
Louis Hutchinson buzzer-beating layup to close the half got the Tigers back within single digits, 43-34, heading into the locker room.
Grambling State began the second half with a 10-3 run, capped by a free throw by Flippin, to cut the BCU’s advantage to 47-44 with 14:24 to play. However, no matter how close GSU got to snagging the lead, the Wildcats would create distance on the scoreboard.
After Bethune-Cookman (15-15, 12-5) pushed its lead back to 13 points, 64-51, with 5:29 to go, GSU made one final dash for the lead. With 1:39 on the clock, Dozier knocked down a deep three to make pull the Tigers back with four, 71-67.
With the Wildcats ahead 75-67, a put back dunk by Flippin followed by a steal and fast break dunk by Chilaydrien Newton made it 75-71 with 30 seconds to go. BCU was able to fight off the Tigers with clutch free throws down the stretch to hand GSU the loss.
