ORLANDO-Senior guard Marc Hill put the North Carolina
A&T men's basketball team within striking distance in the second half
before Central Florida came away with a 77-65 win Tuesday night at UCF Arena.
Hill posted 15 of his team-high 17 points in the second half.
He ignited a fierce rally that started
midway through the second half. The Aggies fell behind by 18 with 13:40 remaining
on a P.J. Gaynor 3-pointer. It was the Aggies biggest deficit of the second
half.
N.C. A&T responded. The Aggies went on a 7-0 run to make
it a 60-51 game, after a layup and a 3-pointer by Hill and two free throws by
senior Nic Simpson with 7:51 remaining on the clock. The Aggies kept chipping away at the Knights
lead as a big three-pointer by junior guard Jean Louisme made it 66-60 with 4:55
left in the contest.
"We ran C op," said N.C. A&T head coach Jerry Eaves. "Marc
was exploiting the weakness with their guards with a high pick-n-roll. It
worked really well for us to get us going.
We stayed in our V set, and Jeremy Underwood did a great job of
distributing the ball, giving Jean shots, and helping Kam (Shepherd) get the ball inside out. The team did an excellent job of putting
players in the appropriate position to do what they had to do."
But the Jordan brothers, the two sons of NBA legend and
Charlotte Bobcats owner Michael Jordan, answered back, and stretched the
Knights lead back to nine points, on a free throw by Marcus Jordan and a jumper
by Jeff Jordan. A dunk by UCF guard
Isaiah Sykes made it a 71-60 game with 2:41 left.
Orlando native Kam Shepherd, who had several family members
and friends cheering on the Aggies, got to the line after a foul by Keith
Clanton, and sank one to mark the first Aggies point in approximately two
minutes.
Junior guard Adrian Powell scored the last points for the Aggies
on a layup with 1:16 remaining to make it a 73-65 UCF lead. The Knights extended their lead on free
throws by Jeff Jordan and Clayton to secure the win for UCF. Marcus Jordan led the Knights with a game-high
28 points, including five 3-pointers and seven free throws.
"We had a nice stretch where Jean Louisme hit some shots for
us, we had a nice stretch where Marc Hill hit some shots for us, which got us
going," Eaves said. "We had great looks
around the basket we didn't put in. We
gave them a few too many second shot opportunities in the second half, which
kind of kept the separation."
In their second game of a six-game road trip, and their
second game in school history against Central Florida, the Aggies shot 50
percent from the floor and 41.7 percent from beyond the arc in the second half
to make it an exciting finish.
Louisme posted 12 points and a steal in the game, and Powell
had 10 points, two steals and two assists.
"We played well as a team," said Eaves. "It's very hard, but we have to grow 10
people. When you're trying to get 10
people to play at a high level as we're trying to do, which is what we're going
to have to do to play during the conference, it makes it very difficult on
everyone because everybody is biding their time. But as the team continues to grow and players
continue to improve as a team, we'll be pretty good."
The Aggies will next take on St. Mary's in Moraga, Calif.,
on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. PST/10 p.m. EST.
