ELON, NC – Junior forward Marcus and redshirt freshman forward Duncan Powell returned to form. North Carolina A&T crushed Elon in rebounding, suffocating the Phoenix on defense in the second half.
It all resulted in the A&T overcoming a sizeable first-half deficit to defeat Elon 80-71 at the Schar Center Wednesday night in Colonial Athletic Association men's basketball action.
The Aggies ended a two-game losing streak to improve to 7-11 overall and 2-3 in the CAA. Elon (2-15, 0-4 CAA) has lost its sixth straight. Wednesday marked the first-ever meeting between the two schools as conference foes, and it marked the first time they have played one another since Nov. 16, 2001, at Elon's old Alumni Gym.
It took a short time to see time away from the series did not make Elon hospitable. The Aggies have trailed by double figures in seven straight games after the Phoenix took a 35-21 lead with 5:50 remaining in the first half.
"We came out lackadaisical on the defensive end, and one of our keys to the game was effort for 40 minutes," said A&T interim head coach Phillip Shumpert. "We came out with low energy, and give Elon credit; they punched us in the mouth. We're 20 minutes up the road; this is a regional rivalry. These guys were going to give us their best shot."
The Aggies did get the Phoenix lead down to eight twice after the 5:50 mark. The final time came thanks to a Demetric Horton 3-pointer and a Jeremy Robinson free throw that cut Elon's lead to 44-36 with 42 seconds remaining in the first half.
But two Sam Sherry free throws pushed the lead to 10 before A&T's Kam Woods tried to score at the end of the half. His 3-pointer went long, but Powell chased down the rebound. With his back to the basket, he quickly turned and fired a turnaround jumper that went off the glass and into the hoop as the horn sounded to send the Aggies into the locker room trailing 46-39.
"He's good coming off the bench and seeing the action first instead of starting," said Shumpert after he started Powell against UNCW on Saturday. "When I talked to him about not starting tonight, one of the first things he said was, 'anything to help the team win.' He's a team guy, and I'm proud of the majority he has shown throughout the season."
Powell made his first appearance in the second half at the 16:08 mark. Less than a minute later, he had an offensive rebound and putback. The play sparked a 9-0 A&T run that included a Love Bettis three from the corner to tie the game at 54 and a no-look alley-oop pass from Woods to Watson that gave the Aggies their first lead of the game, 56-54, with 13:28 remaining in the game.
The Aggies grew their lead to 65-58 with 9:03 remaining before the Phoenix made a run of its own. Elon tied the game twice over the next five minutes, the final time coming on a Torrence Watson layup to make it a 67-67 ballgame with 3:56 to play.
Then, the A&T version of Watson happened. Watson's only successful 3-pointer of the game in seven tries allowed the Aggies to regain the lead. He then intercepted a John Bowen pass and took it the other way for a thunderous dunk to give the Aggies a five-point advantage. Horton capped it all off with a deep 3-point shot to complete the Aggies 8-0 run, giving them a 75-67 lead with two minutes to play.
After failing to score for the first time in his A&T career when he only played 10 minutes against UNC Wilmington Saturday afternoon, Watson reverted to his scoring ways on Wednesday with 20 points on 9-for-19 shooting. He also secured eight rebounds. It was his eighth career 20-plus-point game.
"He played with more energy tonight," said Shumpert. "He attempted to attack the basket. He shot some threes, one too many if you ask me because his strength is getting to the basket and rebounding the basketball. But he went back to the basics and did an outstanding job. He has not had a good game in two or three games, so for him to come out of his shell and do big things tonight, I'm proud of him."
Woods added 13 points and five assists, and Horton connected on all three of his 3-pointers to finish with nine. The Aggies outrebounded the Phoenix 49-34. It was their most lopsided rebounding advantage over a Division I since a plus-17 advantage against Texas Southern on Dec. 17.
A&T also held the Phoenix to 29.7 percent shooting in the second half. Torrence Watson led the Phoenix with 15 points off the bench.
