The anatomy of an upset: Fort Valley State beats Florida A&M in early season action

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Early-season basketball is usually treated as an afterthought, specifically in HBCU basketball. Out-of-conference games across the board often look lopsided, and the more compelling matchups don’t come until after the turn of the new year. But a couple of early-season matchups are often worth your attention, such as Jackson State’s compelling victory over Tulane on Thursday evening.

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Another game worth a spotlight was Fort Valley State University’s 75-70 victory over the Charlie Ward-led Florida A&M Rattlers. The game was particularly exciting for me as a Fort Valley State University alumnus, but I think it shows an interesting trend for both Fort Valley State as they head into SIAC competition and things that Florida A&M needs to clean up.

A slow start, then a run

It did not look like an upset for most of the first half. The Wildcats shot 11-of-35 from the field and 3-of-16 from three, and they went into halftime down 34-28 at the Al Lawson Center. FAMU, in turn, shot 44 percent and had led by as many as seven.

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Then Fort Valley came out of the break on a 19-5 run. In the first six minutes of the second half the Wildcats went from down six to up eight, 47-39. Ronald Durham got it started with a layup off a steal, Inslee Carroll scored in the paint, and Ka’leel Stillman hit a three off a Carroll assist. Katayvon Jefferies then knocked down a three at the 15:31 mark to make it 40-39, and Fort Valley never trailed again. FAMU’s only points in that stretch were five from Jaden Kempson.

Fort Valley made 16 of its 29 shots after the break (55.2 percent), including 5 of 9 from three, and hit 10 of 14 free throws.

Fort Valley was the better team on Thursday night

It might be odd to say that when a Division II program plays a Division I program, but…

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Publish date : 2026-11-07 19:35:00

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