BOSTON --For the second straight game, the North Carolina A&T Aggies men's basketball team overcame an early deficit only to see their excellent efforts combatted by a miscue here or a big shot from the opponent there.
It happened again on Thursday in the Aggies first-ever Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) game as the Northeastern Huskies withstood the Aggies comeback efforts to win 88-76 at Matthews Arena.
Sophomore guard Kam Woods led the Aggies with 23 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Freshman forward Duncan Powell had seven rebounds and a career-high 17 points.
It was a historic night for A&T as CAA Commissioner Joseph D'Antonio attended the game to see the Aggies play a CAA game for the first time. At the end of the first half, D'Antonio saw preseason second-team All-CAA performer and Huskies guard Jahmyl Telfort net a 3-pointer while being fouled.
Telfort completed the 4-point play to give the Huskies a 45-31 lead at halftime. A week earlier, the Aggies trailed New Mexico State by 20 early in the first half and 10 at halftime before rallying to tie the game in the second half before losing by nine.
"We dug ourselves a hole in the first half. We let a guy who is their best post player have five wide-open threes," said interim head coach Phillip Shumpert referring to Telfort, who finished with a career-high 31 points on 5-for-7 shooting from three.
There was not a sense of urgency defensive-wise in the first half. We came back in the second half with a sense of urgency, but at the end of the day (6-foot-9 Chris Doherty), and (6-7) Telfort, their two inside guys, kept pounding us. We have to continue to fight on the interior defensively."
Northeastern grew its lead to as many as 16 in the second half. Then, A&T A&T displayed that urgency led by Woods. Woods followed his miss with a tip-in to cut the Huskies lead to 51-42 3 1/2 minutes into the second half. Woods then immediately took the basketball from Northeastern point guard Glenn McClintock and passed the ball ahead to Marcus Watson for a dunk to get the Aggies to within seven.
"It was defensive and offensive execution that got us back into the game," said Shumpert. "We finally found the defense we wanted to play, but it took us 20 minutes to figure it out. Once we put pressure on them, we got back in the ballgame. We knew we had a chance to get back in the ballgame because our team has fight."
Five minutes into the second half, a Powell offensive rebound and putback cut the lead to six, 53-47. Over the next two minutes, the Huskies pushed their lead back to double figures, 61-50, before the Aggies put together another run.
A 7-0 Aggies run that included a beautiful turnaround baseline jumper from Watson got the Aggies back to within seven with 9:16 to play. Two minutes later, Watson hit a fadeaway jumper in the lane to cut the Huskies advantage to three, 63-60.
But the Aggies had a lapse defensively, allowing Coleman Stucke to hit back-to-back threes to push Northeastern's lead to 69-62 with 6 1/2 to play. Graduate forward Webster Filmore answered with a bank shot from the free throw line. A Demetric Horton three with 5 1/2 minutes remaining made it a 71-67 game.
But an 8-2 Huskies run over the next 2 1/2 minutes gave Northeastern a 79-69 lead. Then, when Stucke netted a three with a minute to play to give the Huskies an 86-74 lead, the Aggies hopes of rally faded quickly.
Watson added 12 points for the Aggies, and senior Jeremy Robinson scored in double figures for the fourth straight game with 11. Doherty had 19 points and eight rebounds.
