WINSTON-SALEM - During the two regular season games against MEAC regular-season champion Morgan State, the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team got some indications it could knock off the Bears.

With that in mind, the Bears wasted no time on Wednesday putting to bed any thoughts of an Aggies upset. The Bears shot 54 percent from the floor to eliminate the Aggies from the 2010 MEAC Tournament with an 84-57 win in the quarterfinals at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The top-seeded Bears will move on to play the winner of the Norfolk State vs. Hampton game played Thursday at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, the Aggies season comes to an end at 11-22. It marks the first time in three seasons the Aggies failed to get at least 15 wins.

Sophomore Nic Simpson led the Aggies with 17 points. Tavarus Alston added 11 points, but failed to get an assists for just the second time this season. The Aggies, who played well against the Bears at Corbett Sports Center and led the Bears by 13 in the second of their game in Baltimore, shot just 37.3 percent on Wednesday.

"Morgan played super today," said Aggies head coach Jerry Eaves. "They were excellent defensively. They were very physical. They forced us out of our offense. They kept us 20-25 feet away from the basket most of the game. We had a hard time getting the shots that we wanted. And we did, they did a good job of contesting those shots."

The Aggies got off to a good start. Senior Robert Johnson found a cutting Dwane Joshua going to the basket for a layup that gave the Aggies a 5-2 lead three minutes into the ballgame. But the Aggies mustered just one field goal over the next 12 minutes of the first half.

It took the Bears a while before they took advantage of the Aggies slump on offense. But from the 13-minute mark of the first half, the Bears hit 9 of 15 shots to take a 35-15 lead. When Alston hit a runner in the lane with 5:50 remaining, it was the Aggies first field goal in seven minutes.

"Basically, they defended us real well," said Robert Johnson. "We weren't able to get the ball in the paint the way we needed to. It goes back to us not being physical enough. It's tough going out like this. I enjoyed playing four years under coach Eaves. We had some good times together."

The Aggies will lose Johnson, a Greensboro Dudley graduate, along with Alston (Greensboro Smith graduate), Dwane Joshua and fifth-year senior James Porter. The Aggies have signed four recruits for the 2010-11 season.

The Aggies expect to return nine lettermen next season, including five sophomores, three juniors and senior shot blocker Thomas Coleman. Eaves said he will also look to bring in two junior college players to fill out the roster.

"It's not something I enjoy doing because you want people in your system for four years,'' said Eaves after being out-rebounded 43-26 on the boards by Morgan State on Wednesday. "But the maturity of the athletes in terms of size is a little better."