Winston-Salem State took time on Saturday afternoon to honor the school's last two CIAA title teams in 1999 and 2000. Turns out, it could have used some of those players after falling flat against Florida A&M yesterday at the Gaines Center.
The Rams wound up losing 75-61, and had no answers for the Rattlers' effective zone.
"We were just flat," said Coach Bobby Collins of the Rams.
Perhaps suffering a hangover from last Monday's exciting victory over N.C. A&T in Greensboro the Rams never showed the same sense of urgency. Leading scorers Paul Davis and Brian Fisher, who were both averaging 11 points a game, combined for just seven points and eight turnovers and were non factors throughout.
The Rattlers (8-20) defended the Rams (11-16) with a man-to-man starting out but once the Rams ran to a 10-point lead Coach Eugene Harris switched to a zone. The Rams were never the same, and Harris stayed with the zone the rest of the way.
"We couldn't penetrate the zone like you are supposed to do," said guard Lamar Monger. "We couldn't get the ball down low to Paul and it was just tough to get through it."
With Davis being swallowed up by the zone the only choice the Rams had was trying to get their shots to fall from the outside. But too many turnovers (21) and not enough good outside shooting cost them.
"We got absolute nothing from them and when that happens we struggle," Collins said about Davis, who got into foul trouble with two quick fouls and played just five minutes in the first half and Fisher. "It started with the first possession of the game we had a turnover."
Fisher was just 1 of 6 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts.
Despite the 14 turnovers in the first half the Rams trailed just 31-29 at halftime, but the Rattlers went on an 11-3 run to open the second half to take a 42-32 lead.
Davis had a wide open dunk attempt with 16:15 left, but missed badly.
The Rams cut their deficit to four later on, but the Rattlers answered and eventually led by 14 with 10 minutes to go. The closest the Rams could come the rest of the way was when they cut it to 64-59 with four minutes to go.
However, the Rams never scored a field goal the rest of the way.
Shelton Carter led the Rams with 12 points and Brandon Hobbs chipped in with a career-high 10.
"We've seen that zone all year and we should have been comfortable with it," Hobbs said. "It was just something where we weren't aggressive enough and it cost us."
Collins agreed with Hobbs that a lack of aggression against the extended 2-3 zone hurt the Rams.
"We weren't aggressive enough and we didn't play smart," Collins said. "I thought we played hard to a certain extent, and it was like you play hard but you don't get anything out of it. That's where we were; we didn't get any loose balls and allowed them to get a lot of open shots."
Amin Stevens and Yannick Crowder each scored 13 points for the Rattlers and Dale Hughes scored 10 points as they shot 47.3 percent and were 9 of 20 on 3-pointers. The Rams shot 41 percent and were 5 of 22 on 3-pointers.
"We had a good run in the first half, but in the second half we got a little stagnant with our passing," Hobbs said. "Instead of attacking the zone, we laid back and didn't get in there."
Hobbs and Monger said that they didn't think the big victory over A&T earlier in the week was a factor in yesterday's game.
Said Collins: "I hope it wasn't a factor. It was just a game where we were flat and I think that game against A&T was very emotional, but I hope we are not still riding that wave."
The Rams will play their final home game Monday against Bethune-Cookman. Fisher and Hobbs, the lone two seniors, will play their last home game.
"It just hit me that this is my last Saturday game here," said Hobbs, a fifth-year senior walk-on who was in tears afterwards. "So I really wanted to win this one. I know I've only got one more in this building so hopefully we can get it on Monday."
jdell@wsjournal.com
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