Tallahassee, Fla. (Feb. 8, 2016) --- Malcolm Bernard drove the length of the court and hit a running shot  in the lane as time expired to give Florida A&M a 96-95 victory over Delaware State in a double-overtime men's basketball thriller at the Al Lawson Center Monday evening. The buzzer beater was the second of the game. The first tied the contest at the end of regulation.

Delaware State had taken a 95-94 lead on a three-point shot by Aric Dickerson with four seconds left in the second overtime before Bernard's heroics.

The Hornets appeared to take control in the second overtime stanza when Kavon Waller capped off a 7-0 run with a free throw to give DSU a 92-86 lead with 2:50 left to play. Waller and Dickerson each had three-point field goals during the spurt.       

Florida A&M fought back when Jerron Foster, who didn't enter the game until the second overtime, hit back-to-back three-pointers to tie the score at 92.

After a Delaware State miss, Bernard hit a basket to give Florida A&M a 94-92 lead with 12.5 seconds remaining.

The Hornets led 26-25 at the break, but fell behind early in the second half.

Florida A&M outscored the Hornets 14-2 to start the second half, and opened up a 39-28 lead on a dunk by Isaiah Omoregie.

The Rattlers were ahead 62-51 before Delaware State made a late second half push.

The Hornets chipped away at the deficit over the next four-plus minutes, and pulled to within 69-68 on a three-pointer by Waller with 58 seconds left in regulation. Cahli Thomas came off the bench to give DSU a spark during the spurt, scoring six points on a three-point basket and an old fashioned three-point play.  Morgan had four points and Dana Raysor also nailed a three-point shot during the rally.

After a free throw gave Florida A&M a 70-68 lead, Morgan hit a baseline jumper for the Hornets to tie the game with 15 seconds remaining in regulation.

After a Florida A&M timeout, Bernard appeared to win the game for the Rattlers on a contested shot in the lane with 2.9 seconds left in the second half. But the Hornets quickly inbounded the ball and Thomas found Mrdjan Gasevic ahead of the pack in the front court. Gasevic took a couple of dribbles before putting up a shot in the lane that dropped in the basket to tie the game at 72 as the horn sounded to end the second half.

An officials' review confirmed that the shot by Gasevic beat the buzzer, sending the game into overtime, the first of the year for the Hornets.

In the first overtime,  Florida A&M led 84-81 after a basket by K'Ja Johnson in the final minute, but Morgan nailed a three-pointer for DSU to tie the game with 14 seconds left. The Rattlers committed turnover with four seconds remaining in the first overtime, but the Hornets failed to capitalize when Dickerson missed a desperation three-point attempt as time expired in the extra period, sending DSU to its first double-overtime game since the 2012-13 season.

Morgan and Waller led five Delaware State players in double figures with 18 points each. Waller was five-for-10  from the field and matched his career-high with four three-point field goals.

Dickerson and Thomas chipped in with 12 points each. Dickerson also equaled his career-best with four three-pointers, while Thomas' point total marked his personal best as a Hornet.

Raysor was the fifth DSU player in double-figures with 10 points.

Gasevic had nine points and a career-high 10 rebounds, including four offensive boards, to lead the Hornets.

Malcolm topped all players with 27 points and 14 rebounds for Florida A&M. He was 12-for-15 from the floor, and also tallied six assists and five steals.

Justin Ravenal added 20 points for the Rattlers, highlighted by six three-point field goals (six-for-13).  

Delaware State was 33-for-72 from the field (45.8%), including 14-of-29 on three-point shots (48.3%). The 14 three-pointers tied a team single-game record.  

Florida A&M shot 56.3% for the game, hitting 36 of its 64 shots from the floor. The Rattlers were 10-for-28 on three-point attempts (35.7%).

Poor free throw shooting by Florida A&M helped get the Hornets back into the contest in the second half. The Rattlers were 14-for-37 at the line for the game (37.8%), including nine-of-26 in the second half (34.6%).

Delaware State was 15-for-24 from the charity stripe in the game (62.5%).

Florida A&M held a slight edge in rebounding, 44-42.

DSU dropped its second straight game to fall to 4-20 overall and 2-7 in the MEAC, while the Rattlers snapped a three-game slide to improve to 7-15 and 3-6.

The Hornets will return to action on Saturday at home against UMES. Game time is scheduled for 4 p.m., following the DSU/UMES women's contest in Memorial Hall.

STINGERS
Delaware State held a 62-36 edge in bench points vs. Florida A&M … Dickerson has 10 three-point  field goals in the last three games, while Waller has hit eight of his last 11 three-point attempts (.727) … Morgan's streak of at least one three-pointer in a game has reached 20 … The Hornets are 0-15 on the road this season … Delaware State played its second straight game without junior guard DeAndre Haywood and sophomore swingman Todd Hughes (head coach decision).