JACKSONVILLE, Florida -- Prior to this season, Bethune-Cookman University men's basketball had never won four games in the month of November, or owned a winning record having played three-or-more contests. That all changed Thursday evening at Swisher Gymnasium as Shawntrez Davis exceeded expectations to lead all scorers with a season-best 28 points to power BCU (4-3) to a 77-66 victory at Jacksonville University.
Davis was key in engineering the Wildcats' largest lead of the game of 14 points with his lay-in at 18:01 in the second half. The junior forward from Atlanta, Ga., scored the half's first six points to give BCU a 40-26 cushion.
The Wildcats, who picked up their first road win of the season, maintained the lead the entire second half despite a furious JU (3-5) rally. Davis sank a pair of free throws to put the visitors ahead, 54-44, with 10:30 remaining before Jayln Hinton scored five points to ignite a 9-0 Dolphin run. Radwan Bakkali's jumper with 6:31 to go was the closest JU came before falling to its second Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foe at home this season.
Isaiah Bailey nailed a three on the ensuing possession and BCU returned its lead to 10 on his goal-shaking, one-handed slam-dunk with 4:40 remaining. The Wildcats never led the lead squeeze to below six, thanks in large part to guard Malik Maitland's ability to drive each possession past mid-court and his icy 8-8 performance at the free-throw line. BCU had its best performance yet at the penalty stripe, draining 23 of its 28 attempts.
Maitland netted 16 points, tying a season-best, while Bailey tallied 14 with a team-high six assists. Davis collected 10 rebounds and recorded his MEAC-best fifth doube-double. Soufiyane Diakite topped BCU with 11 rebounds. BCU converted 18 Dolphin turnovers into 19 points, and trailed for only 1:04. The Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak in the series, while achieving their first road win against Jacksonville since 2008.
Neither team could remove a cover from the cylinder to start the game until Davis' jumper fell in at 18:24. He then reeled off seven more points over the next 1:07 to push the Maroon and Gold lead to 9-2 at 17:17.
Jacksonville cut the lead to two on a Hinton dunk at 13:00, and the Dolphins took their first lead on a Jace Hogan layup at 7:40 for a 19-18 edge. The Wildcats regained the lead, 24-22, thanks to an Armani Collins trifecta at 4:27, and led 34-26 at the break with eight points, two helpers, and a steal all by Maitland over the run.
The Wildcats continue their brief road-swing with a trip to Florida Atlantic for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off on Saturday, Dec. 2.
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