HAMPTON, Va. – The North Carolina A&T could not overcome hot shooting from the Hampton Pirates in a 93-82 loss inside the Hampton Convocation Center in Big South Conference men's basketball play on Wednesday night.
A&T (11-16, 6-7 Big South) dropped its fourth straight road game. The Pirates improved to 8-16 overall and 4-9 in league action.
Graduate forward Justin Whatley got the scoring going for the Aggies, grabbing his offensive rebound and immediately putting it back up for two. Trailing 4-3, Pirate guard Marquis Godwin scored on two 3-pointers to push Hampton's lead to 9-4.
Whatley had not hit more than two 3-pointers in a single game this season, but from the 15:34 mark to the 13:11 mark of the first half, the transfer knocked down four triples in a row to give A&T a 22-15 advantage. Whatley poured in a career-high 17 points and had five rebounds.
The Aggies led 24-17 following a layup from graduate guard David Beatty, but the Pirates rifled off a 9-1 run over the next 3:27 to take a 26-25 lead.
Freshman guard Kyle Duke checked into the game and contributed eight points down the stretch of the first half, but Hampton's accurate shooting proved too much as they took a 43-37 advantage into the locker room.
The Pirates shot 59.3 percent from the field in the first half and an unbelievable 66.7 percent beyond the 3-point arc. That trend continued in the second half.
Godwin scored five of the Pirates first seven points coming out of the break to extend their lead to nine, 50-41. On the night, Godwin scored a career-high 27 on 10-of-14 shooting, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range.
They saw their advantage balloon to double figures, 55-45, following a pair of free throws from junior forward Dajour Dickens.
From there, Hampton outscored the Aggies 14-6 and shot 6-of-6 from the field to take a 68-51 lead. Graduate transfer Najee Garvin and sophomore guard Russell Dean scored four points apiece during the spurt.
The Pirates took their biggest lead, 21 at 75-54, with 9:38 left to play. A&T cut the Pirates lead to nine with under a minute to play but ultimately ran out of time.
Hampton shot a season-high 61.7 percent from the field and 68.8 percent from deep Wednesday night.
Duke ended the night with a new career-high 15 points, the first double-figure scoring game of his career. Graduate guard Tyler Maye joined him and Whatley in double figures with 14. Sophomore forward Marcus Watson contributed eight points and a team-high eight rebounds in 15 minutes.
