BALTIMORE – North Carolina A&T came up against some impressive performers from Morgan State Monday night as they took a 72-51 loss to the Bears at Hill Field House.
Sophomore Sam Hunt was the only Aggie to score in double figures as he finished with 12. Meanwhile, the Bears were led by Resean Simpson's 17 points and 10 rebounds. In addition to his double-double, Cedric Blossom had 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting. Donte Pretlow contributed with eight points and nine assists.
It was a significant loss for N.C. A&T (8-20, 5-8 MEAC) who had designs on moving up to a higher seed in next month's MEAC tournament. Instead the Aggies shot just 34 percent from the field and made only 9 of 18 at the free throw line.
It was gradual decline for the Aggies on Monday because they started the game with plenty of energy. The first play of the game was a lob pass from senior point guard Ahmad Abdullah to junior Denzel Keyes for an alley oop dunk. In fact the Aggies hit six of their first 10 shots including a 3-pointer from Abdullah that gave the Aggies a 17-14 lead with 13:49 remaining in the first half. The Aggies even found themselves tied at 23 at the 8:52 mark as senior Bruce Beckford found junior Steven Burrough down low in the post for a layup. He was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw.
The Bears began to pull away after Burrough's missed free throw. They went on an 8-0 run before two Hunt free throws broke up the streak. A Pretlow layup and two free throws from Blossom put the Bears (6-20, 4-9 MEAC) ahead by 10. Nick Reese was able to get Morgan State's lead back under double figures at 35-27 with 3:28 remaining in the first half on a layup off of a pass from Deion James.
But that would be the last time the lead N.C. A&T's deficit went under 10. A 6-0 MSU run gave the Bears a 14-point lead and two more Blossom free throws gave the Bears a 43-31 halftime lead.
N.C. A&T will try to get back on the winning track when they meet Florida A&M in a rematch from a Feb. 13 contest the Aggies won 75-68 at Corbett Sports Center. This time the two teams will meet at The Al Lawson Center in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m.
