WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 18, 2017) – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team is still in search of its first conference win of the season after the Howard Bison were able to defeat the Aggies 84-53 at Burr Gymnasium Saturday evening.
The shocker of the night came from the Aggies backcourt where neither starting guard – redshirt sophomore Amari Hamilton and redshirt junior Sam Hunt – scored from the field. The duo was a combined 0-for-9 from the floor and Hunt, the Aggies leading scorer over the past two seasons, failed to score a point. N.C. A&T (2-25, 0-12) did get some contributions from their big men. Junior Davaris McGowens led the Aggies with 19 points and six rebounds on 6-for-10 shooting. Graduate center Aaron Scales had 14 points and six rebounds on 7-for-11 shooting.
The game started innocently enough for the Aggies. Nine minutes into the game, McGowens lobbed a pass down low to Scales for a score that put the Aggies down 15-13. After a Solomon Mangham 3-pointer, junior Eliel Gonzalez, who had the Aggies only two 3-pointers of the game, hit one of them to put the Aggies down two again. N.C. A&T struggled from there.
Howard's Kofi Andoh followed his own miss to give the Bison a four-point lead. After an Aggies turnover, Damon Collins connected on a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 23-16. Charles Williams matched his teammate's three with a three of his own to put the Bison ahead by 10. Freshman Raymon Pratt scored down low to take the lead back under double figures, but another Collins three put the Bison in front 29-18 with 7:52 remaining in the first half. N.C. A&T was never able to get the lead under double figures again.
This marks the Aggies worst loss to Howard since a 107-73 loss to the Bison on Jan. 21, 2003. Once again the Aggies had problems with Williams who followed up his 30-point performance in Corbett Sports Center on Jan. 21, 2017 with a 25-point night on Saturday. Collins added 21 points.
The Aggies will now chase that first conference win in Princess Anne, Md., as they face Maryland Eastern Shore 7:30 p.m., Monday at the Hytche Athletic Center. The Aggies will try to avenge a 99-88 loss to MDES from earlier this season.
