NORFOLK, Va. - North Carolina A&T didn't lose any ground in where it will be seeded for the 2011 MEAC Tournament despite a 75-57 loss to Norfolk State Thursday night at Echols Hall.
The Aggies (15-16, 9-7) will head into next week's MEAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed, and will face fourth-seeded Morgan State Thursday night at 8. The Aggies would prefer to be heading into the tournament at the? Lawrence Joel Coliseum with a better result from their most recent game even though a win would have just switched the seeding between the Aggies and the Bears.
"We didn't play well tonight, but we'll be ready for the tournament," said N.C. A&T head coach Jerry Eaves. "We've been grinding it out over the last month fighting for a good seed, so we hit a wall in the second half. We know where we stand now, so we're ready."
All-MEAC performer Thomas Coleman was the only Aggie to score in double figures with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Aggies shot just 28 percent on the night.
Even with the poor shooting, Ray Lester's layup 30 seconds into the second half moved the Aggies to within two at 29-27. There were not too many things that went right for the Aggies from there. Over the next five minutes, the Aggies didn't score a point. It allowed the Spartans to take an 11-point lead as Marcus Tamares' layup gave the Spartans a 38-27 advantage.
Two Lawrence Smith free throws to get the Aggies to within five, but a 7-0 NSU run put the Aggies away for good. NSU center Kyle O'Quinn finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots. Rob Hampton and Pendarvis Williams had 14 points apiece. The Spartans improved to 10-19 overall and 8-8 in the MEAC.
