STANFORD, Calif. – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team fell to the Stanford Cardinal, 79-65, inside Maples Pavilion on Tuesday night.
"We battled for 40 minutes," said A&T coach Will Jones. "With this team, we're just trying to get the effort for a whole game. Forty minutes. We're continuing to find our shooting touch, but I think we've made over 10 threes in the last two games. So our shooting ability is starting to be there; we just have to continue to keep grinding."
The Aggies (1-5) came out firing in the opening minutes, claiming a 6-4 lead after back-to-back 3-pointers from graduate guard David Beatty (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Beatty was the only Aggie in double-figures with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting. He also added a career-high five steals to his line.
The Cardinal (4-2) responded with an 11-0 run over the next 3:25, with former five-star recruit and forward Harrison Ingram either scoring or assisting on seven of those points. Ingram had 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to lead Stanford.
The Card led the game by as many as 14 in the first half. After a pair of free throws, A&T outscored Stanford 13-8 down the stretch and closed the deficit to single-figures, 35-26, at the break.
A glaring discrepancy in the first-half box score was Stanford's 30-15 advantage in rebounds that translated into an 11-0 Stanford advantage in second-chance points.
In the second half, the Cardinal led 44-34 with 14:59 left in the game. The Aggies knocked down three-straight 3-pointers, two from junior guard Demetric Horton, to quickly make it a 47-44 game. Horton had nine points on 3-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
A&T hung tough and kept the game within four points over the next few minutes, but Stanford was able to execute a 15-0 run and jump out to a 68-49 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
"I think some calls went here or there," said Jones. "They came back, made their run, it's a game of runs, and they had a guy hit a couple of key threes, and I think that was the difference in the lead."
Sophomore forward Max Murrell played an integral role in that huge run and led the Card with a game-high 18. He scored 10 of those in the final five minutes.
"The guys are getting better," said Jones. "I'm proud of their effort. We have to stay the course and go through the process."
Coming up next for the Aggies is the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Fla. A&T plays Samford Friday, Nov. 26 at 2:30 p.m. Then, the Aggies will play either McNeese State or St. Francis NY in Saturday's championship round, depending on Friday's games.
