"Poor Marc." That was head coach Jerry Eaves' reaction as he walked toward the men's basketball locker room shaking his head after a baffling 59-56 loss to Bethune-Cookman at Corbett Sports Center on Saturday.
What looked like a game where Marc Hill would be the Aggie hero, turned into a night where he missed two free throws in the final minute. Eaves believed his senior point guard deserved a better fate after doing the right things in the classroom and on the floor for four years. Hill was the lone Aggie in double figures with 16 points.
"I feel sorry for him, I feel sorry for my team," said Eaves. "They played very, very hard. But that's the game of basketball. You have to play 40 minutes. You have to finish the game. We will continue to work on our free throws. We know that lost us the game.
"It's one thing to miss them, but we had an opportunity to put the game away. It's just a tough pill for them because they played hard. They executed well defensively, and held the team to 59 points. But Bethune hit every shot they had to hit, and we missed every shot that we had to make. That's how the ball bounces sometimes."
Bethune-Cookman's Anthony Breeze scored on a layup with 3:35 remaining to tie the game at 49. One minute later, Hill drove into the paint and scored to give the Aggies a two-point advantage. Junior forward Adrian Powell forced a Wildcats turnover, which led to him scoring in transition for a 53-49 lead.
Things really looked promising when junior Lawrence Smith grabbed a defensive board and launched a pass up court to Hill who was sprinting toward the basket. Hill's spinning layup gave the Aggies a 55-49 lead with a minute remaining.
After Scotland missed a three, Eaves called a 30-second timeout to remind his team of one simple number.
"Two, two, two," said Eaves, who sounded like former presidential candidate Herman Cain, who earned fame by touting his economic plan called nine, nine, nine. "I told them not to help off of dribble penetration, not to help off of shooters, but to stay at home. We said during the timeout we only want to give up twos and not threes, and we didn't do that. It's a learning experience we went through. We didn't do all the things we needed to do."
The Wildcats came out of the timeout and fouled Hill. Hill missed the front end of the one-and-one free throw, which led to Kevin Dukes scoring on a layup. Hill was fouled again with 26 seconds remaining. He hit one of two at the line to put the Aggies ahead 56-51. The Aggies may have forgotten Eaves' reminder because Dukes was able to come off of a Garrius Holloman screen to hit a wide open 3-pointer to cut the lead to two at 56-54.
"We simply didn't show off the pick on the second to last three," Eaves said.
N.C. A&T still had a chance to put the game away when Witter was fouled by Adrien Coleman with 16 seconds remaining. Witter left the first free throw short and bounced the second one off the back of the rim as Coleman took down the rebound.
Dukes struck again. He buried a 23-footer from the top of the key to give the Wildcats a 57-56 lead with three seconds remaining. When Witter was called for traveling, it all but ended the Aggies' chance at a response. Dukes finished with 23 points on five made 3-pointers.
"I think our players are trying to step up and play hard, I'm just disappointed that we only had one person in double figures," said Eaves. "We have to be able to score the ball better than that and when we do, we'll be able to win games. We did a great job of keeping them perimeter without any big people. We just didn't make enough shots to win."
Hill is not the only Aggie Eaves feels sorry for. The Aggies played without big men DaMetrius Upchurch and Kam Shepherd because Upchurch is injured and Shepherd is out for administrative reasons. The Aggies may have to go into Monday's 6 p.m., game against Florida A&M at Corbett without both men.
"Now that we're down two centers, all the roles have changed," said Eaves. "I'm playing a lot of people out of position because DaMetrius Upchurch and Kam Shepherd are out. We still haven't found our way, so we're playing and doing the best we can."
The Aggies led by as many as eight in the first half as Jean Louisme hit a 3-pointer with 4:39 to play. Witter gave the Aggies a 25-20 halftime lead on a bounce pass from Nic Simpson.
