SPARTANBURG, S.C. – North Carolina A&T had a baffling 66-64 loss to Gardner-Webb in the first game of the Battle of the Carolinas event hosted by Wofford at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
On Saturday, A&T had a rough day against the Runnin' Bulldogs athletics department as the Aggies football team also lost to GWU in the Big South Conference championship game. The men's basketball game between the two institutions was a non-conference game. It was a non-conference game the Aggies led by 21 in the second half.
"Gardner-Webb showed a lot of fight. They are a tremendous defensive team, and they showed that over the final two minutes," said A&T assistant coach Sam Hunt after he and fellow assistant Bruce Martin coached the game because interim head coach Phillip Shumpert was ill. "I think our group is mentally tough, so we will get them ready for tomorrow. We are going to watch film on Wofford and come back ready to play tomorrow. I think we'll be fine."
The Aggies (1-3) will play the Wofford Terries Sunday evening at 5 in the Battle of the Carolinas final game. They hoped to go into the postseason-tournament-style event with some momentum after difficult losses at Iowa and Iowa State.
Even without leading scorer and point guard Kam Woods playing in the game, the Aggies ability to share the basketball gave the Bulldogs problems. When junior Marcus Watson found dumped a pass to teammate Austin Johnson, the Aggies led 48-27 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
A&T did not indicate slowing up from that point. When graduate forward Webster Filmore spotted an open Demetric Horton for a three, the Aggies still led 62-44 with 5:36 remaining in the ballgame. Another Watson assists to Johnson led to a dunk, and a 64-53 Aggies lead with 3:10 to play.
But Johnson's dunk marked the Aggies final points of the game. A Kareem Reid dunk sparked a 13-0 Bulldogs run to end the game. An Anthony Seldon dunk made it a 64-61 game with 48 seconds to play. After a missed jumper from Watson, Reid scored again to cut A&T's lead to one with 15 seconds remaining.
DQ Nicholas then intentionally fouled Horton to send A&T to the free throw line. Horton missed the front end of the one-and-one, returning possession to the Bulldogs on the Nicholas rebound. Caleb Robinson then attempted to win GWU the game but missed the jumper. Reid, however, followed with the putback and was fouled.
He completed the 3-point play to give GWU a two-point lead. Horton's attempt to win the game with three missed, giving the Bulldogs the come-from-behind win.
Horton led the Aggies with 15 points. Watson finished with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds on 5-for-9 shooting. Senior Jeremy Robinson came off the bench to add 11 points and six rebounds. Reid had 16 to lead the Bulldogs.
