ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The theme continued for the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team Monday night against S.C. State at S-H-M Memorial Center.
Come into the game with players sitting out due to injury. Fall behind early only to fight back continuously throughout the second half only to be done in by the opponent's hot shooting and numerous free throw attempts. It happened again in the Aggies 92-85 loss to the Bulldogs.
Junior Denzel Keyes had a career night as he finished with a career-best 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting. He also had five rebounds. Senior guard Ahmad Abdullah also scored a career-high 19 points. Sophomore guard Sam Hunt had 14 and graduate forward Ede Egharevba came off the bench to finish with 15.
For the third time in four games the Aggies (5-13, 2-2 MEAC) played without senior preseason first-team All-MEAC selection Bruce Beckford. The Aggies have had other injuries toward the end of 2015 going into the start of 2016. Whether it is the injuries is not for sure but over the same span the Aggies fell behind by double figures in the second half against Kent State (Dec.30) before losing by one.
They trailed USC Upstate (Jan. 5) by double figures in the second half before battling back to tie the game in an eventual loss. They also trailed by double figures in the second half at Savannah State before getting to within five.
On Monday, S.C. State led by as many as 16 in the first half and 13 in the second half before a Hunt 3-pointer with 5:21 remaining gave the Aggies a 74-73 lead. It was the Aggies first lead since it was 2-1 with 18:27 remaining in the first half. Two free throws and a Gabriel McCray layup on a cut to the basket gave the Bulldogs (8-10, 3-1) a 77-74 lead.
Keyes responded with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 77 with 4:09 to play. Ed Stephens gave the Bulldogs the lead for good with his sixth 3-pointer of the night. Greg Mortimer added another jump shot to put the Bulldogs ahead 82-77 before Hunt kept the Aggies close with a short jumper. But Mortimer scored again and Eric Eaves hit two free throws to give the Bulldogs a seven-point lead at 86-79.
“We got off to such a slow start. It looked like we were intimidated in here,” said N.C. A&T head coach Cy Alexander. “We've got to come out ready to play instead of always playing catch up. I like the effort we gave, but then we didn't get the rebounds we needed when they missed shots. We just got to keep grinding.”
As Hampton, the No. 1 team in the MEAC, comes to Corbett Sports Center on Saturday at 4 p.m., Alexander knows there are some fixes that go along with that grind. Their past two opponents have shot a combined 82 free throws, making 57. S.C. State was 33-for-45 from the free throw line.
The Aggies last three opponents have also shot better than 50 percent in the second half. Despite the Aggies shooting a season-high 58.5 percent from the floor, it was offset by S.C. State shooting 57.8 percent.
“We've got to stop fouling,” said Alexander. “We've got to sit down and guard the ball. We often have to help and then when we try to get back, either the shot is there or they're driving the ball and we're not in position. We're about a half step late on our rotation when we come out to help and recover.”
Alexander said his team obviously plays better at home, and he expects to have his team healthier than they have been during the road trip. Hopefully, that will break the trend.
Evans and Stephens had 27 and 23 points respectively.
