GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T had its designs on slowing down Hampton's scoring trio of Reginald Johnson, Jr., Brian Darden and Quinton Chievous, the only three men averaging double figures for the Pirates.
The Aggies didn't quite accomplish what they set out to do. Darden and Chievous didn't have superb nights, but Johnson did. Darden and Chievous were able to complement Johnson's performance enough to down the Aggies 79-62 Saturday evening at Corbett Sports Center. The Aggies (5-14, 2-3 MEAC) dropped their sixth straight game after Johnson scored 29 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out seven assists and recorded four steals. Darden and Chievous had 17 and 10 respectively. Hampton improved to 9-7 overall and 5-0 in the MEAC.
Sam Hunt hit all six of his free throws and finished with a team-high 16 points. Keyes followed up his 22-point performance at S.C. State by recording 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. Graduate transfer Ede Egharveba added 11 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
“We needed to stop those three guys and we didn't, consequently Hampton came in here outshot us,” said N.C. A&T head coach Cy Alexander. “We need to go back and work on our 3-point defense.”
Hampton hit 41 percent (14-for-34) of its 3-point shots led by Johnson who went 6-for-11 from 3-point range. Alexander said they have to correct the same issues that led to the Aggies opening the season 0-7 when teams were shooting 37 percent from 3-point range against the Aggies. The Aggies then put emphasis on playing better perimeter defense, won five of their next six and held opponents to 27 percent shooting from 3-point range.
After numerous injuries following the New Year, the Aggies have let opponent shoot 37.3 percent from 3-point range over their last six games, and N.C. A&T's last four opponents have all shot 50 percent in the second half.
“We can get our momentum back. We just need one win,” said Alexander. “I believe we need just one win. When we get that win, hopefully it's Monday because our season has been a roller coaster ride. But we've got to stay the course. As soon as we get the taste of one win and get the taste of what winning feels like again, we can go on a run just like we did before.”
The Aggies were hoping to gain that momentum against a Hampton team that had won its first four conference, three of them in overtime. Keyes appeared to have started that momentum when he intercepted a Lawrence Cooks pass to eventually take off soaring dunk that cut Hampton's lead to 24-23 with 4:42 remaining in the first half. On Hampton's ensuing possession, Keyes again soared to block Darden's shot, but knocked him down instead.
Hampton coach Edward Joyner, Jr., was emphatic that Aggies senior Bruce Beckford kicked Darden while he was down and made a convincing enough argument to have the referees go back and review the play on the replay monitor at the scorer's table. The referees agreed with Joyner and called Beckford for the dead ball technical foul. Darden hit three of four free throws to take a 27-23 as Hampton led 35-26 at halftime.
Alexander said for him it was the turning point in the game because Keyes' dunk had the potential of helping the Aggies start a run. Instead the dunk was the Aggies final field goal of the first half.
N.C. A&T did get within two, 40-38, in the second half on an Ahmad Abdullah jumper with 11:38 to play. But Hampton put the game away with a 16-2 run that included four steals and two 3-pointers. All four steals led to Pirate points.
“Every time we cut the lead we didn't make the right play on offense, then we would come down and not make the right play on defense. We never got control of the game.”
The Aggies will try to end their current losing streak as they invite Norfolk State to Corbett Sports Center for a 4 p.m., start on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day on Monday.
