BALTIMORE - An interesting and unusual season for the North Carolina A&T men's basketball continued on Monday for the nation to see.
Morgan State scored 41 points over the last 12 ½ minutes of the game to down the Aggies 81-67 during a nationally televised game on ESPNU from Hill Field House. The Bears' 41-point outburst added to a unique season that has seen the Aggies be successful against the top teams in the conference, but unsuccessful against some of the lower teams in the MEAC.
It has also been a season that has seen the Aggies go through long stretches without being able to score despite taking good shots. It appeared all of the above happened on Monday.
Over the first five minutes of the game, the Aggies trailed by 14. But thanks to three consecutive made 3-pointers - two by Austin Witter - helped the Aggies tie the game at 23. The Bears regained the lead at 28-27 with a Reggie Holmes 3-pointer before the Aggies ended the half on a 10-4 run aided by two Tavarus Alston 3-pointers, including one at the buzzer.
Six-and-half minutes into the second half; the Aggies were poised to pull off another upset in the conference. A Thomas Coleman layup gave the Aggies a 47-36 advantage. A minute later, an Alston jumper put the Aggies in front 50-40.
Morgan State took over from there. The Bears went on a 24-6 run over the next six minutes to take a 64-56 lead. Witter ended the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Aggies could not sustain it. They went 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-2 from the line during a 15-2 Bears run that put the game away.
"When the score was 50-40, we stopped playing,'' said head coach Jerry Eaves. "We turned the ball over too many times and that's when the momentum switched. It seems that keeping focus is hard for us to do."
Coleman led the Aggies with 16 points and 14 rebounds as he recorded his 10th double-double of the season. His rebounding total put him over 600 rebounds for his career, making him the eighth Aggie in school history to do so. Alston and Dwane Joshua had 16 and 14 points respectively.
Morgan State improved to 23-9 overall and 14-1 in the MEAC. Holmes led the Bears with 32 points on eight 3-pointers. Joe Davis added 15 points and four assists.
The Aggies dropped to 10-20 overall and 6-9 in the MEAC. As it stands now, they will go into the tournament as the No. 9 seed. The Aggies will play their regular-season finale on Thursday against Norfolk State at 8 p.m., from Corbett Sports Center. It will be senior day for Alston, Joshua, Johnson and James Porter.
"We're just going to keep working,'' said Eaves. "We've proven we can compete with every team in the conference, so we're looking forward to the tournament."
