DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman shot 58 percent in the second half to keep the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team from sweeping their Florida road trip with a 62-52 win Monday night at BCU's Moore Gymnasium.
The Aggies were looking for their first Florida sweep in more than 20 years after they defeated Florida A&M on Saturday. But the Wildcats (14-16, 10-5 MEAC) were able to pull away late thanks to consistent scoring in the paint. The Wildcats were only 5-for-25 from 3-point range, but inside the arc they were 21-foor-34 (.618) from the floor.
Four Aggies scored in double figures led by a resurgent senior Bruce Beckford. Beckford recorded his first double-double in 16 games as he finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds on 7-for-11 shooting. It was his 12th career double-double. After not scoring in double figures in four straight games, Beckford scored in double figures in both Florida games as he came away with a combined 32 points and 19 rebounds over the two-game stretch.
Junior Denzel Keyes also had a double-double, the first of his career, as he finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. It marked the first time in seven years two Aggies had double-doubles in the same game as Ed Jones and Thomas Coleman did it on Feb. 7, 2009 against Florida A&M. Sam Hunt added 13 points and seven rebounds, while senior point guard Ahmad Abdullah had 10. One of the Aggies top scorer Ede Egharevba didn't score and the Aggies only scored one point off the bench.
The starters were enough to keep the Aggies in the game early. Hunt's bucket as the first half ended helped the Aggies go into the locker room at halftime down only one, 29-28. But the Wildcats would increase that lead to 16, 56-40, with seven minutes to play.
But Keyes would score inside off a James Whitaker pass. Whitaker would then find an open Hunt for a 3-pointer and Abdullah would follow with another three to put the Aggies to within eight at 56-48. Beckford would complete the 10-0 run with two free throws as the Wildcats lead was cut to 56-50 with 2:31 to play.
Twenty-five seconds later Wildcats guard Ricky Johnson hit a big jump shot which was followed by a Johnson layup to put the Wildcats up 10 with 90 seconds remaining in the game. Wildcats big man Mario Moody led the Wildcats with 20 points and three blocks on 9-for-13 shooting. The Wildcats other post player LaRon Smith added 11 points and four blocks.
N.C. A&T (9-21, 6-9 MEAC) will close out the regular season against archrival North Carolina Central 7:30 p.m., Thursday at Corbett Sports Center.
