EAST GREENSBORO – It has been hard for North Carolina A&T Aggies, who live in Greensboro, because they have had to travel around the community with five straight losses to crosstown Division I rival UNC Greensboro hanging over them.
That is no longer a problem.
The Aggies received two huge 3-pointers from sophomore guard Kam Woods down the stretch, and Woods made his free throws late to lead A&T to a 73-56 win over the UNCG Spartans in men's basketball non-conference action at Corbett Sports Center Wednesday night.
A&T's last win over the Spartans came on Dec. 2, 2015, a 77-68 win at Corbett Sports Center. But in the previous five games against A&T, the Spartans have won by an average margin of 17.2 points.
The A&T (4-4) win also prevented the Spartans (3-5) from taking over the series lead for the first time since the two teams started playing each other in 1990. Instead, the Aggies reclaimed the series lead, 12-11.
"It's our first win in five tries, so you know it's a proud moment for me and my guys," said A&T interim head coach Phillip Shumpert. "We're excited about this win because our guys have had to go out in the community for so long not having won this game. This is a big game in this community, so it's important to win it.
"I'm in my fourth year, and they have beaten us by 30, by 20 twice and last year we lost a 10-point lead. So it's unbelievable for me to get over that hump finally. The atmosphere in the building was so electric. It was just a great night."
A&T played in front of a near-capacity crowd to earn their first Division I win of the season. Woods scored 18 of his game-high 23 points in the second half. He shot 3-for-6 from 3-point range and 7-for-8 from the free throw line in the second half.
"He's naturally a scorer, but he's learning to run our sets and play within the team concept," said Shumpert. "He's still a work in progress, but as we continue to grow as a team, he's starting to buy in more and more. But there's no question; he's our energy guy."
Another scorer, senior guard Demetric Horton, gave the Aggies a 58-45 lead on a 3-pointer with 5:40 remaining in the game. But the Spartans scored the next six points to reduce their deficit to seven.
Woods would then get hot. He netted back-to-back threes to push A&T's lead to 64-51 with three minutes to play. UNCG never recovered from those two blows. Woods then went 7-for-8 from the free throw line over the final 2:15 of the game to seal things. The Aggies shot 46.2 percent from the field in the second half and were 6-for-12 from 3-point range.
"We've been preparing hard all week for this game because it means so much to our alumni and even our coaches. One of our coaches played in this rivalry, and we haven't won since he played in it," said Woods referring to A&T assistant coach Sam Hunt who played on the 2015-16 team that defeated the Spartans. "We had to win this game. I think it will give us more confidence going into the conference."
Junior Marcus Watson finished with 13 points and a season-high nine rebounds. Horton had an excellent all-around game. In addition to tying his career-high with seven assists, he compiled 13 points and three steals. Redshirt freshman Duncan Powell came off the bench to post nine points and five rebounds.
A&T will get the next two weeks off before they travel to Houston to face the current No. 1 team in the nation, the Houston Cougars, Thursday, Dec. 13, at 8 p.m. eastern.
