Djurisics career night leads Dogs past Florida AM

ATHENS -- Nemanja Djurisic scored a career-high 21 points and Georgia won its third straight Saturday 82-73 over Florida A&M.

For Georgia (5-7), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored 11 and Brandon Morris 10.

Florida A&M (4-8) was led by Muhammad Abdul-Aleem, who came off the bench to score 16 points and grab a game-high 11 rebounds. James Adams added 12 and Markee Teal 10.

Georgia led the entire game, mostly by double figures, but the Rattlers took advantage of a 7-minute cold spell by the Bulldogs in the second half to cut the deficit to six, 53-47, with 12:53 to play.

But Donte' Williams and Caldwell-Pope combined for three baskets in the paint to push the lead back to 59-47.

The Rattlers hit 7 of 15 3-point shots in the first half, but missed all 11 long-range shots in the second half. Florida A&M also struggled from the line, hitting 12 of 25 attempts.

The first half was a shooting clinic as both teams hit well from beyond the 3-point line. The Bulldogs made 7 of 11 from long range.

Florida A&M's problem, however, was that it had trouble shooting inside the arc. The Rattlers made 7 of 19 from inside the line, and five of those two-pointers came in the last 4 minutes of the half.

Georgia's Caldwell-Pope entered the game as the leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference, averaging 18.1 points per game. He was scoreless until he converted a breakaway opportunity with a slam dunk with 5:25 to go in the half.

Georgia scored the first eight points of the game. Back-to-back 3s by Florida A&M's Jamari Bradshaw closed the deficit to 17-15 with 11:27 to go in the half. But a 15-0 run by the Bulldogs pushed Georgia to a 42-24 lead, capped by Djurisic's 3-pointer with 4:06 to go before halftime.

Georgia led 49-36 at intermission.

The Bulldogs started slowly in the second half, scoring just one field goal in the first 7 minutes. The Rattlers got within six at 53-47 when Onyekachukwu Odi hit a pair of free throws with 12:53 to play.

Georgia responded with three baskets in the paint, a dunk by Williams, a follow by Caldwell-Pope and a layup by Williams to stretch the lead to 59-47.

Florida A&M made one last surge, cutting into the lead 78-71 with 42 seconds to go after a basket by Adams. The Rattlers forced a turnover on the inbounds play but another missed 3 ended the comeback attempt.

Source: http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=256622

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