BALTIMORE – North Carolina A&T lost its ninth straight game on Wednesday with a 73-68 loss to Coppin State at the Physical Education Complex. There was an effort and some things N.C. A&T men's basketball coach Cy Alexander saw that makes him believe the losing streak will soon come to an end.
Junior Denzel Keyes had double-figure rebounds for the third straight game and went 2-for-2 from the free throw line after going 1-for-9 on Monday. The attitude in the locker room was positive, and teammates were encouraging redshirt sophomore guard Sam Hunt after he made some critical mistakes he made late in the game. Finally, Bruce Beckford, who has scored in double figures 67 times in his career has been battling an injury since the New Year started. But on Wednesday he scored in double figures for the first time in four games.
Hunt led the Aggies with 16 points, senior guard Ahmad Abdullah had 15 and Beckford finished with 11. Keyes had 10 rebounds and has 40 over the last three games. The Aggies dropped to 5-17 overall.
“We just feel like we're going to turn it around for the second half of the conference season,” said Alexander after his team dropped to 2-6 in the MEAC over the first eight games of a 16-game conference season. “It has got to start Saturday. You can't berate and chastise them because they're given everything that they've got. I thought we did a fairly decent job in a lot of areas tonight.”
Terry Harris gave Coppin State a 61-55 with four minutes to play in the game. Hunt responded thirty seconds later with one of his four 3-pointers on the night. The Eagles (5-14, 3-3 MEAC) came back with a 7-2 run highlighted by Christian Kessee' 3-pointer as CSU took a 68-60 lead with 2:34 remaining. But a Keyes steal and score got the Aggies back to within three at 69-66 with 1:06 remaining.
Thirty seconds later the Aggies had a chance to tie the game, but missed his 3-pointer. Keyes had to intentionally foul James Sylvester. But Sylvester hit only one of two free throws leaving the N.C. A&T with an opportunity to overcome the late deficit. Abdullah took the opportunity to score on a jump shot to cut the lead to two, 70-68. Kesee continued to give N.C. A&T a chance to win as he hit only one two free throws to keep it a one-possession game at 71-68.
But Hunt would turn the ball over during the Aggies next trip to seal the win for the Eagles.
“We missed at least eight layups and that's hard to overcome when you're right there for an easy one,” said Alexander. “We just have to keep working. Working starts at four o'clock and eight o'clock tomorrow with practice, staff meeting and film.”
N.C. A&T welcomes Savannah State to the Corbett Sports Center on Saturday, January 30 at 4 p.m. The Tigers shot 48.9 percent to win the first meeting 75-68 three weeks ago in Savannah, Ga.
“They're hurt but they feel like we went 2-6 the first part of the (MEAC) season, so we can go 6-2 for the second half of the conference season,” said Alexander. “We just have to get over the hump, and it's so frustrating. It's so frustrating because we're right there to do it and we haven't done it. “
