DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team dropped a tough road contest against Bethune-Cookman, 78-73, on Saturday evening in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's basketball action. Sophomore wing Tyrone Lyons led the team with 15 points.
 
"We only played for 20 minutes tonight," said acting head coach Will Jones. "Without your leader, you can't make that many mistakes. We have to bounce back on Monday."
 
Junior guard Kameron Langley, who leads the MEAC in assists and ranks ninth nationally, did not play on Saturday due to an illness.
 
Senior guard Andre Jackson and freshman guard Fred Cleveland, Jr. did their best to fill the void. They had 14 points apiece, while senior forward Ronald Jackson had eight points and 17 rebounds. The Aggies struggled to score the ball shooting just 37.1 percent from the field. N.C. A&T also surrendered 21 points off of 22 turnovers.
 
The Aggies (12-13, 8-2 MEAC) were down 69-50 with just over six minutes to play, but A&T rifled off a 19-2 run to cut the deficit to two with two minutes to play. But foul trouble doomed the Aggies down the stretch. Graduate center Devin Haygood fouled out and leading scorer and rebounder Ronald Jackson and Lyons had four fouls during crunch time.
 
The Wildcats (11-12, 5-4 MEAC) got a dunk from Jordan Preaster to take a 75-69 lead with 1:10 to play. Lyons answered with a layup to get the Aggies back to within four, but two Isaiah Bailey free throws with 37 seconds to play seemed to ice the game for the Wildcats.
 
The Aggies are now a half-game ahead of N.C. Central (11-12, 7-2 MEAC) and Norfolk State (11-13, 7-2 MEAC) in the conference standings with six games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
 
In the first half, Lyons hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give A&T a 12-11 lead. The Aggies, however, would go scoreless the next six minutes allowing Bethune to take a 12-point lead. The Wildcats would take a 38-25 advantage into the locker room after a Wali Parks 3-pointer.
 
Parks led the Wildcats with 17 points on 7-13 shooting.
 
Next up, the Aggies will head to Florida A&M for a conference showdown on Monday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.