Rattlers show flashes of being an improved team with impressive win over Suns

 
By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook Staff Writer

Craig Wilsman, coach of the Johnson University men’s basketball team, was still cheering on his players even when it was certainly hopeless.

 
They had no chance. Not against this FAMU team that showed all kinds of potential. All night long.

 
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Rattlers set a milestone in the 103-71 victory Friday night. But there was no question that FAMU has a much different basketball team from the one that went 2-27 last season.

 
Some of the essentials to being a winning team were obvious.

 
Speed: They’ve got that.

 
Depth: That was on display by the contribution from the bench.

 
Talent: Much more than the excruciating past season when FAMU got most of it’s scoring from Jermaine Ruttley. Take, for example, the performance by Malcolm Bernard, who scored 17 points and was just two rebounds shy of a double-double.

 
Add to that, the post play of a much-improved Mario Karailiev and guard Jarran Foster.

 
It could only get better if the Rattlers’ spirits aren’t broken by the outcome of those money games they’ll eventually play.

 
“We are just jelling a whole lot better than last year,” Foster said. “Everybody is leaning on each other.”

 
With that said, let’s not get carried away. Johnson University is a fledgling Division II program. On top of that, there is a horrendous stretch of games still awaiting the Rattlers. You know – the ones that they play against bigger programs for the money.

 
Still, though, anyone who was in the Lawson Center watching how FAMU dismantled the Suns had to be impressed.

 
If not, you might have been caught up by excitement in the student section. There was ruckus with every shot.

 
Especially the dunks. There must have been at least six of them by the Rattlers.

 
But who is counting. FAMU won.

 
The players are loving it.

 
“I was walking down the hall way and I was thinking, ‘wow,” Karailiev said. “We are 1-0 right now. I’ve never known that feeling. That’s a pretty good feeling.”
Believe me. Your fans are savoring it too.

 
The Rattlers showed flashes of their speed early, stealing and taking the ball all the way for a field goal to go up 13-8 with 12:57 left in the half. That started a 9-0 run by the Rattlers before the Suns answered with eight straight points, including two 3-pointers.

 
That’s when FAMU showed tenacity like never before. They showed hustle. When the ball was loose on the floor Francois Lewis scooped it up and scored and just like that FAMU was on top 34-21.

 
At the break the lead ballooned to 51-20.

 
Go ahead and explain how you feel about the transformation in your team, Coach Byron Samuels.

 
“I’m excited about it and I think our kids are excited about it and we just look forward to the next opportunity to play.”

 
During the last five minutes, the Rattlers had their way. They showed what the reserves could do, too. Jonathan Tshminga took the ball downcourt, dribbled it behind his back on the way to a dunk that brought the Rattlers within five of reaching 100 points.

 
The place went bunkers.

 
No one seemingly had time to think that the Rattlers had only two days of rest before they played Southern Illinois on Sunday. Samuels took his team into that game understanding that the divide between the Suns and Southern Illinois is wide.

 
And, what the Rattlers showed in their first home opener in eight years is only the beginning of the building process.

 
“We’ve got to continue to work,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to grow and we’ve got to find the right rotation. All those sort of things.”