NORFOLK, Va. – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team was trying to leave the Tidewater area Monday night with two wins over two of the top three teams in the MEAC.
It looked promising for the first 31 minutes against Norfolk State at Echols Hall until the Spartans decided to go nearly perfect from the floor in a 74-60 win over the Aggies. The Spartans (12-9, 5-1 MEAC) went 9-for-12 from the floor over the final nine minutes of the game. They shot 61 percent from the floor for the game and were 8-for-13 from 3-point range.
Bruce Beckford led the Aggies with 21 points, marking the third time in four games he has reached the 20-point plateau. Aggies center Steven Burrough scored a career-high 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
“We let down mentally on the defensive end,” said A&T head coach Cy Alexander. “They are the best team I have seen in the MEAC offensively. They've got talented perimeter players that can beat you and talented inside players that can beat you.”
Guard Jeff Short led the Spartans with 19 points on 4-for-7 shooting from 3-point range, while NSU center RaShid Gaston had 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting. The Spartans outscored the Aggies in the paint 28-16.
“We lost our mental discipline on defense,” said Alexander, who saw his team drop to 5-15 overall and 2-4 in the MEAC. “Then we got offensive happy thinking we could get into a back-and-forth with them. They're too good for that.”
While the Spartans were heating up from the floor, the Aggies miscues were starting to cost them. A&T turned the ball over six times over the final 10 minutes of the game. It was unfortunate because a Bryan Akinkugbe tip-in gave the Aggies a 49-45 lead with 10:47 remaining in the game. NSU scored the next four points to tie the game at 49. A pull-up Beckford jumper put the Aggies back in the lead before a Malik Gray 3-pointer and a Zaynah Robinson layup gave the Spartans a 54-51 lead with 7:46 to play.
Beckford, who added three assists to his totals, then threw a cross-court pass from the post to an open Ahmad Abdullah. Abdullah set his feet and knocked down a three to tie the game at 54.
But a Short three ignited an 11-0 run that iced the game for the Spartans.
“We didn't play very well over the last nine minutes but we did do some good things throughout the ballgame,” said Alexander. “We need to learn from those things and put it in our back pocket in case we play them again in the tournament.”
The Aggies trailed 29-19 in the first half. Thanks to an offensively aggressive Beckford, however, the Spartans found themselves in foul trouble as two players were whistled for three fouls and two other players had two fouls. The Aggies made 11 of 14 free throws in the first half with Beckford going 7-for-8, to take a 34-33 halftime lead.
A&T shot just four free throws in the second half.
“We settled for outside shots and we didn't get the ball to the people we needed to get it to in the second half,” said Alexander.
The Aggies return home to face Delaware State Saturday, Jan. 24 at Corbett Sports Center at 6 p.m.
