EVANSVILLE, Ind.- Junior forward Adrian Powell posted 15
points and senior guard Marc Hill had 12, but the North Carolina A&T men's
basketball team couldn't seem to get rolling, as they fell to the Evansville
Purple Aces 86-65 Saturday night at the Ford Center.
"We were sluggish, but I expected it," Eaves said. "Finals
week has been a very tough week. We've only practiced a day and a half in the
last six. Our timing was bad. We
couldn't hit a free throw or a layup. We played hard at times, but we were very
inconsistent."
The Aggies took a 7-0 lead powered by 3-for-3 shooting from
Adrian Powell. Despite the early lead, the Aggies had problems stopping Purple
Aces guard Colt Ryan. Ryan finished with 29 points on 5-for-7 shooting from
3-point range. Ryan also hit all 10 of his free throws.
Ryan gave Evansville
the lead for good on a pair of free throws, which made it a 10-9 game with
14:22 left in the first half. The Purple
Aces went on a 10-0 run to make it a 20-9 game in the first eight minutes of
the contest. Evansville extended its
lead to 47-33 at halftime thanks to 17 first-half Aggie turnovers that resulted
in 28 Purple Ace points.
"We really didn't have a lot of bright lights, but Adrian
started it out with seven in a row," said Eaves. "He rebounded the ball and did
a fair job defensively. He's playing
better and better. We just have to get better as a team, and we will."
The Aggies cut down on their turnovers in the second half, finishing
with 24 for the game. N.C. A&T cut the lead to 13 on two Jean Louisme free
throws with 6:54 to play. But a Ned Cox 3-pointer was followed by a steal and a
Cox layup to put Evansville in front 74-56 with six minutes remaining.
Plus, the Aggies could not keep up with the hot shooting of
Ryan, who had 21 second half points to help put away the game for Evansville. The Purple Aces also had three other players score
in double figures, including Kenny Harris' 13, Cox's 12 and Denver Holmes' 10.
The Aggies did outrebound the Purple Aces 38-22, but
Evansville shot 49 percent from the field and hit 12 of 19 from 3-point range.
"We just have to get to work and get our rhythm back now
that finals are over, and start to build the team from there," Eaves said.
The Aggies will next face Central
Florida, Tuesday, December 13 at 7 p.m., in Orlando, Fla.
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