ATLANTA (December 28, 2016) – North Carolina A&T men's basketball wrapped up their non-conference schedule with a hard-fought 59-52 loss to Georgia Tech at Hank McCamish Pavilion on Wednesday night. Despite a commanding performance for most of the game, it was not enough to clinch the Aggies' first-ever victory over an ACC opponent.
“All we can do is keep plugging away and try to get better,” said head coach Jay Joyner. “For 36 minutes we went toe-to-toe with an ACC program. If we can continue to build going into conference play and play at the level that we did tonight, I think we will be in great shape.”
The Aggies (1-12) have lost their last three contests to GT by only a combined total of 18 points. They led the Yellow Jackets for 27 minutes of the contest thanks in part to Sam Hunt's 20 points. He was a perfect 8-for-8 from the line and hit two shots from beyond the arc. Davaris McGowens was also a major force for the Aggies, putting up 14 points with eight rebounds despite getting in foul trouble late in the game. Graduate transfer center Aaron Scales added 10 rebounds for N.C. A&T.
Defensively, the Aggies challenged the Yellow Jackets, holding them to 39.6 percent shooting as the Aggies secured 11 steals, the second-highest total of the season. The Yellow Jackets (8-4) did hit five of their last six shots over the final five minutes of the game. Kellen McCormick and Tadric Jackson led the late charge as each player finished with 12 points apiece. McCormick, who came into the game with only five points the entire season, went 4-for-5 from 3-point range Wednesday night. Ben Lammers added 12 points and six rebounds.
“I think Georgia Tech hit a lot of tough shots tonight, McCormick came up huge for them,” said Joyner. “Unfortunately for us, he was able to go 4-for-5 from the three and really that was the difference in the game.”
The Aggies came back roaring in the second half after trailing 26-23 at halftime. They regained the lead 30-28 on a 3-pointer from Hunt after a dunk from Scales jump-started the half. With 13:15 remaining, the Aggies moved ahead by six and held the momentum until a 3-pointer from Jackson tied things up at 45. After going more than 11 ½ minutes of game action without the lead, the Yellow Jackets finally reclaimed the advantage on a Quinton Stephens jumper to give GT a 47-45 lead with 3:34 remaining.
A 3-point play by Jackson extended the Yellow Jackets lead to five before a James Whitaker jumper cut GT's lead to 50-47 with 2:21 to play. That lead shrunk to one on two Hunt free throws. But McCormick continued his hot night as he splashed a 3-pointer with 90 seconds remaining to help the Yellow Jackets avoid the upset. After Whitaker missed a 3-point rebuttal, Jackson dunked a pass from Lammers to give GT a 55-49 lead with 57 seconds to go.
“We are a much better team than our record suggests,” said Joyner. “We work every day on things that we are supposed to work on. We have a lot of new faces this year, so it has taken us a while to get the chemistry together. But the most important part of our season is coming up with conference opponents, and that's what we have to get ready for. It's that simple.”
The Aggies start up Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference competition in 2017 against the Hampton Pirates on the road Jan. 4 at 7 p.m.
