TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Senior point guard Ahmad Abdullah battled for an offensive rebound and then it a difficult put back to send North Carolina A&T's game against Florida A&M into overtime where the Aggies eventually captured a 77-70 win over the Rattlers at the Al Lawson Center in men's basketball action Saturday night.
The Aggies overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to earn the win. It was just the Aggies second win in six tries at the Lawson Center. After losing 15 straight on the road, the Aggies have now won twice in three road games.
“I'm so proud of the guys because they didn't quit,” said interim head coach Jay Joyner. “I'm so proud of their defensive effort because it took us getting defensive stop after defensive stop in order to get the game into overtime. We were down double figures with six and a half to go in the game, and they found a way to pull this one out. I give my players all the credit in the world for locking up on defense.”
Graduate forward Ede Egharevba led the Aggies with his first double-double as an Aggie with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore Sam Hunt added 14 points, Bruce Beckford came off the bench to score 14 and Abdullah added 11 points and five rebounds.
After Abdullah's rebound and put back sent the game into overtime tied at 66, the Aggies took command by scoring the first seven points of the extra period. Hunt scored five of those points including a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 73-66 lead three minutes to play. The Rattlers scored the next four points to get within three with 40 seconds remaining.
But Hunt, who is ranked fourth nationally in free throw shooting, hit two free throws to hold off the Rattlers (8-20, 4-11 MEAC) run. After a missed 3-pointer by Craig Bowman, junior Denzel Keyes hit two more free throws to help the Aggies improve to 4-2 in the conference under Joyner.
“Once we got to overtime they came to the huddle and said, 'coach we're not going to lose this game,'” said Joyner. “I wanted us to continue to build and get after it, and that's exactly what they did.”
Abdullah's game-tying shot at the end of regulation was redemptive. With the Aggies trailing 45-43 at the 12-minute mark of the second half, Abdullah picked up a technical foul. The penalty helped the Rattlers put together an 11-2 run for a 56-45 lead with eight to play. The Aggies still trailed by seven, 61-54, with four minutes to play. But Abdullah hit a three and Egharevba hit two free throws to cut the Rattlers lead to two.
Francois Lewis would hit one of two free throws before Hunt tied the game with a strong move to the basket that drew a foul from Justin Ravenal. Hunt completed the 3-point play to tie the game at 62 with 1:40 to play in regulation.
Lewis appeared to put the game away with a 3-pointer with 25 seconds to play to give the Rattlers a 65-62 lead. But Hunt, who scored 12 of his points after the first half, scored again to cut the lead to one. He then fouled Bowman who made only one of two free throws setting up Abdullah's heroics. The Rattlers were 22-for-38 at the free throw line while the Aggies were 17-for-18.
“We're going to enjoy the win tonight and then wake up tomorrow and prepare properly for Bethune,” said Joyner.
The Aggies and Bethune-Cookman face one another Monday night at 7:30 at B-CU's Moore Gymnasium.
