EAST GREENSBORO – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team fell to N.C. Central in a hard-fought battle for the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular-season championship and No. 1 seed, 86-80, in Durham in MEAC men's basketball action.
 
"We never quit," said acting head coach Will Jones. "On the road, you have to be able to not make mistakes and defend and I thought down the stretch they were able to make the plays so congratulations to them."
 
Junior guard Tyler Maye, who started in place of an injured Kwe Parker, scored a team-high 19 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field. 
 
Junior guard Kameron Langley added 18 points and 12 assists as well as eight rebounds. Langley needs only six assists to become the conference's all-time leader in assists. Sophomore forward Tyrone Lyons notched 15 points on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range. Senior guard Andre Jackson rounded out double-figure scoring with 11 points.
 
The game was tied at 65 apiece with just under seven minutes to play. NCCU ( 17-13, 13-3 MEAC), who will go in as the top seed going after their fourth straight MEAC tournament title, went on a 9-2 run over the next two minutes to take a 74-67 lead. 
 
With some timely free throw shooting, the Eagles iced the game. 
 
The Aggies (16-15, 12-4 MEAC) got it as close as four, 81-77, with a minute left but couldn't get over the hump.
 
In the first half, A&T fell behind 4-0, but rattled off a 15-5 run to storm out to a 15-9 lead. The Aggies enjoyed their largest lead of the night when they held a 27-14 advantage after a Lyons 3-pointer. The Eagles, however, closed the half on an 11-3 run, holding the Aggies to one bucket over the final four minutes to take a 40-39 advantage into the locker room.
 
A&T has locked up the No. 2 seed for next week's MEAC tournament in Norfolk, Va. The Aggies will play the winner of the game between seventh-seed S.C. State and 10^th-seed Howard 8 p.m., Wednesday at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va.