GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T interim head men's basketball coach Jay Joyner called his first collegiate victory bittersweet. Yes, he helped the Aggies end a nine-game losing streak and in the process earn the program's first win in 2016 with a 63-62 win over Savannah State Saturday evening at Corbett Sports Center.
But at the same time his mentor, friend and the man responsible for him playing college basketball and being a college basketball coach, former Aggies head coach Cy Alexander, was looking down from above on the second floor of Corbett as the color analyst on the Aggies Radio Network broadcast after resigning his post on Friday.
“I have so many ties to coach Alexander, so I'm happy and sad at the same time,” said Joyner who played for Alexander at S.C. State from 1993-96. “I owe a lot to him. He's the reason why I got into this profession. I will say the great thing about tonight is that the program got a big win.”
Joyner would have loved to have seen the man who coached him to a MEAC title while a player at S.C. State go out with a fairy tale ending after six MEAC championships (5 at S.C. State, one at N.C. A&T) and close to 400 career wins. Story book ending or not, however, Joyner knows he is tasked with piecing back together a season that has included a seven-game losing streak, a nine-game losing streak and numerous injuries to key players.
Phase 1 started on Saturday with redshirt sophomore Sam Hunt hitting two free throws with 1.9 seconds remaining to end the Aggies (6-17, 3-6 MEAC) woes. Ahmad Abdullah broke out of a shooting slump by scoring 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. He also had six assists. Ede Egharevba scored 11 points off the bench on 4-for-4 shooting and Bruce Beckford added 10 after hitting all eight of his free throws.
Neither team ever took a commanding lead in the game although the Aggies appeared headed in that direction when a driving Beckford found a cutting Denzel Keyes going toward the basket and whipped a pass over to him for an easy layup that gave the Aggies a 57-49 lead with 4: 39 to play. But over the next 90 seconds, the Tigers (7-12, 3-5 MEAC) went on a 7-1 run capped by Kamil Williams 3-pointer to get within two, 58-56.
Abdullah relieved some tension in the building when he swung a pass over to a wide open Egharevba for one of his three 3-pointers on the night to give N.C. A&T a 61-56 lead with 2 ½ minutes remaining. It would be the Aggies final field goal of the night as Tigers guard Christopher Martin hit two free throws, Lenjo Kilo hit a short jumper and with 21.2 seconds remaining Troyce Manassa muscled his way into the paint and drew a foul from Beckford.
Manassa hit both free throws to give the Tigers a 62-61 lead. N.C. A&T then isolated Hunt one-on-one and let him drive to the basket. He eventually drew a foul from Brian Pearson to set up his game-ending heroics. Williams led the Tigers with 20 points on 6-for-14 shooting from three.
“I'm just excited for the guys to be able to stick together and persevere,” said Joyner. “I knew it wasn't going to be easy and toward the end they tried to rip my heart out of my chest. But I thought the guys really fought hard defensively for 40 minutes, finally. And that's what I'm going to hang my hat on. Defense. It's all about defense.”
And why shouldn't he hang his hat there? After all, on Friday he became the determiner of where the hat hangs. Joyner's next coaching challenge will be against the Charlotte 49ers. The Aggies and the 49ers will play in Corbett for the first time since 1990 on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
