Cougars shake up Rattlers in Beasley
OLIVER MCKENNA | DAILY EVERGREEN FILE
Freshman guard Noah Williams drives the ball toward the basket during the game against SU Nov. 7 at Beasley Coliseum.
December 22, 2019
The WSU men’s basketball team defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers 87-73 on Thursday night at Beasley Coliseum.
This is the first four-game winning streak for WSU since the beginning of the 2017-18 season when the Cougars won six games in a row.
Despite the victory, the Cougars (7-4, 0-0) turned the ball over 20 times, a new season high. However, the team did not trail to the Rattlers (0-9, 0-0) once and scored a new season high in points.
Sophomore forward CJ Elleby posted a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Elleby scored eight first-half points in the opening 10 minutes of the game.
Freshman guard Noah Williams led the team in first half scoring for the first time this season. Williams totaled nine points in the first half after drilling a 3-pointer with two seconds left in the first half. Williams finished the game with 10 points, five rebounds and one steal in 19 minutes of play.
Heading into the game, Florida A&M junior center Evins Desir led the team in scoring before suffering an injury during the first half. Sophomore guard MJ Randolph led the Rattlers in scoring and finished with a career-high of 21 points. Now, Randolph is the team’s leading scorer with 98 points.
As the Cougars lead the Rattlers 41-24 at the half, Florida A&M shot 35.71 percent from the field and accumulated 10 turnovers. Florida A&M finished the game with two 3-pointers. They are ranked as the worst 3-point shooting team in the nation.
Junior guard Isaac Bonton committed his fourth foul two minutes into the second half. He played five minutes after his fourth foul until he committed his fifth foul and was out for the remainder of the game. Bonton finished with five points on 1-10 shooting from the field.
Junior guard Marvin Cannon scored double-digit points for the first time since the 2019 Cayman Classic. Cannon scored 11 points, with nine coming in the second half and made eight rebounds.
The Cougars will play the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals at 4 p.m. Saturday in Beasley Coliseum, and the game will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.
