GREENSBORO, N.C. - The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team returned home Tuesday night after a month of road trips and earned a 76-53 win over Hiwassee College at Corbett Sports Center.
Junior guard Marc Hill led the Aggies with 18 points. Sophomore forward Adrian Powell added 16 points and four assists. Thomas Coleman earned his ninth double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds. The Aggies (6-8) snapped a five-game losing streak by shooting 59 percent in the second half.
Despite the win, the Aggies struggled in the first half as Hiwassee took the lead three different times. It took two free throws from freshman Jeremy Underwood in order for the Aggies to take a 32-30 lead into the locker room.
"I didn't like our spirit tonight and that concerns me,'' said N.C. A&T head coach Jerry Eaves. "I have said for eight years that it's not about the wins and losses for me. If you play the game the right way, everything else will take care of itself. There was nothing about the way we played the game tonight that I liked. There was nothing about our spirit that I liked."
N.C. A&T was a more spirited group in the second half although it took eight minutes before the Aggies truly pulled away. Powell accounted for 14 points during a 16-0 Aggies run by scoring 10 points and dishing out two assists during the hot streak.
Powell opened the spurt by grabbing a 3-point miss by Underwood and scoring on an easy layup to give the Aggies a 44-37. Thomas Coleman followed with a dunk off of a touch pass from Powell. When Powell scored on a fastbreak layup and converted the free throw on the 3-point play, the Aggies took their first double-digit lead of the game at 49-37 with 12:01 remaining.
Adrian McLaurin led the Tigers with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
"We have a lot of things to correct before we start conference play," said Eaves. "I believe we're going to get those things corrected and still have a great year."
The Aggies begin full-fledge conference play Saturday afternoon at 4 when they face Florida A&M at Corbett Sports Center.
