20 facts about B-CU's 20-win season

In college basketball, 20 is a magic number for victories. Reaching 20 guarantees nothing, but it always suggests success. With 20 victories, a major-college team can usually book its postseason plane tickets.

For lower-level Division I teams, 20 victories is a particularly rare feat. The North Carolinas and Kentuckys of the world fill their early schedules with the Savannah States and USC Upstates of the world to pad their records.

Teams like Bethune-Cookman have to play those "guaranteed money" games early to support their programs. But you might as well call those games "guaranteed losses."

In 31 years as a member of Division I, B-CU (20-11, 13-3 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) had never achieved 20 wins in a season until ...


Videographer: chesmon40; Play: Bethune-Cookman University's Alexander Starling (32) drives to the basket over Florida A&M's Yannick Crowder (42) at Bethune-Cookman  for Wildcats 20th win of season on Thursday.

B-CU goes OT for 20th

DAYTONA BEACH, FL -- Alexander Starling was getting frustrated sitting on the bench with foul trouble in the second half. He wanted to get back in the game and make a play. At the last possible moment he got his chance.

With the score tied at 71 with 4.9 seconds left in overtime, the 6-foot-6 senior intercepted the in-bounds pass and drove to the bucket to give Bethune-Cookman a 73-71 victory over archrival Florida A&M in the season finale Friday at Moore Gymnasium.

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