GREENSBORO – Even before the season started, North Carolina A&T men's basketball coach Cy Alexander looked at the Aggies four-game home stretch in late November and the beginning of December and thought the games would solidify a strong start or being a turning point in case of a slow start.
After N.C. A&T's 80-74 win over Maryland Eastern Shore Monday night at Corbett Sports Center, the Aggies could be in the midst of a turnaround. The Aggies (4-7) won their fourth straight game and improved to 2-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. All four wins have come at home, which matches the longest home winning streak the Aggies have had under Alexander, who is in his fourth season.
Graduate guard Joshea Singleton scored a season-high 24 to lead all scorers. Senior Ahmad Abdullah added 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Senior Bruce Beckford finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Sam Hunt had 16.
“It was incumbent among the coaches to keep these guys positive, knowing this home stand could be the turning point in our season and lo and behold it was,” said Alexander.
The Aggies led 42-25 at the half. Alexander said he warned his team that UMES (1-7, 0-2 MEAC) would come out determined in the second half. The warning was appropriate. N.C. A&T's lead grew to 21 in the second half, but the Hawks applied an aggressive full court pressure and forced the Aggies into 11 second-half turnovers. When Devin Martin came down the floor and hit a transition 3-pointer the Hawks had dwindled the Aggies lead to one, 57-56, with 9:48 to play.
“Even during their run we were able to make enough plays to withstand what UMES was doing,” said Alexander. “We changed our press break, we put another press break in. From there we got it in and little better and we got into the hands of our point guard and ran some motion action – we passed three or four times before we attacked. Joshea got into the lane a couple of times and scored off of it.”
A Singleton drive to the basket pushed the Aggies lead back to eight at 73-65 with 2:29 to play. UMES center Dominique Elliott hit two free throws before UMES took advantage of a missed 3-pointer by Beckford as Martin grabbed the rebound and raced down the floor for a score, cutting the lead to four. After two Hunt free throws, Elliott cut behind the defense on an inbound pass and scored to make it 75-71 with 1:16 to play.
Singleton followed by missing two free throws for A&T which led to a Thomas Rivera 3-pointer that cut it to one again, 75-74, with 1:01 on the clock. On the Aggies next possession, the Hawks would get a chance to foul center Steven Burrough with 43 seconds remaining. Burrough came into the game shooting 35 percent from the line. Yet hit both crucial free throws to put the Aggies up three. When Shane Randall missed the front end of his one-and-one, the Aggies had clinched their first 2-0 conference start since the 2010-11 season.
“In my opinion those were two big free throws,” said Alexander about Burrough's two makes. “He is not a good free throw shooter, but he went up there and made them both. At the time we were hitting one out of two, so we needed those two.”
Elliott had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Hawks. Martin added 14. The Aggies return to action on Sunday when they face East Carolina in Greenville at 2 p.m.
