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.

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.

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 Fort Valley State was clearly the better team throughout the game. They played with energy and aggressiveness FAMU wasn't prepared for. The Wildcats forced 20 turnovers, 10 in each half, and finished with 13 steals. They scored 18 points off those turnovers to FAMU's 14, and took 64 shots to FAMU's 51. That is how they won, even though FAMU shot better at 47.1% to 42.2%. FAMU also won the rebounding battle 39-36, so Fort Valley created its edge through extra possessions.

They also showed tremendous depth. Fort Valley's bench scored 34 points to FAMU's 15, and 23 of those came in the second half, when FAMU's bench scored six. Jefferies, Stillman and Cordarius White accounted for all 34. Jefferies finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from three. Only one of the threes came in the first half, so 12 of his 15 points came after it. Two of them came 39 seconds apart and pushed a 53-48 lead to 59-48. Stillman added 11 points, and White scored eight on 4-of-5 shooting.

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No need to panic at Florida A&M, but some improvements are needed

Florida A&M struggled in key areas, including turnovers and free-throw shooting. FAMU gave it away 20 times, and Fort Valley turned those turnovers into 18 points. They also shot 15-of-30 (50 percent) from the line and only 7-of-16 in the second half. Their depth was also a concern in this game. Daisean Williford scored 22 and Kempson scored 21, so those two accounted for 43 of FAMU's 70 points. The rest of the team scored 27 and shot 10-of-26. FAMU's bench gave it 15 points, less than half of Fort Valley's 34.

But the Rattlers were not down and out and could have made a comeback to secure the victory. Fort Valley led by 14, 66-52, with 3:06 to go, and the Rattlers outscored the Wildcats 18-9 the rest of the way. Williford hit threes at 2:14, 0:20 and 0:05, and Kempson hit one at 2:51, cutting it to 73-70 with five seconds left. Carroll then made two free throws to seal it. Amari Floyd's dunk off a Carroll assist at 0:31 had given the Wildcats room when FAMU cut it to seven. It was a strong finish, but a late rally can only do so much after falling that far behind.

While, in the grand scheme of things, the win will amount to a morale booster and a reputation builder for the Wildcats, the Rattlers now have something more to work on. There still is a lot to learn from this game. That certainly should not go under the radar this weekend.