GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T had good looks at times. North Carolina A&T had excellent looks at other moments. North Carolina A&T even had balls circle the rim, go halfway down, and pop out. Simply stated, the Aggies could not get shots to fall Tuesday night against their chief rival, North Carolina Central University (NCCU), at Corbett Sports Center, resulting in a 67-62 loss to the Eagles.
The Aggies shot 28.8 percent on Tuesday and made one field goal over the final 11 minutes of the game, and that was a 3-pointer at the buzzer by sophomore forward Evan Joyner. Other than making shots, the Aggies (0-9) did all the things to earn their first win, including out-rebounding (46-39) their opponent for the first time this season. Therefore, the game was the Aggies' most competitive of the season.
"That's one of the things I'm most proud of this group. You shoot 28 percent for the game and 14 percent from three, and it's a two-possession game for most of the game," said A&T head coach Montè Ross. "It was a game that went back and forth, and I tell you, we had some good looks at it, so much so, it was like, 'How did that not go in?'"
Freshman Uchenna Kellman-Nicholes did get his layup to fall as he took a bounce pass from sophomore point guard Camian Shell to cut the Eagles lead to 52-48 with 11:07 remaining in the game. Despite that being the final field goal for the Aggies until the buzzer, two minutes later, the Aggies took the lead for the first time since the 6:07 mark of the first half as sophomore guard Landon Glasper hit two free throws to give A&T a 53-52 lead.
NCCU's Ja'darius Harris quickly put the Eagles in front again as he drove to the basket to score on a layup. Two more free throws gave NCCU a three-point lead before two more Glasper free throws moved the Aggies back to within one. NCCU extended its lead to 59-55 with 6 1/2 minutes remaining on an and-one from Harris. Two more Glasper free throws kept the Aggies close, cutting the Eagles lead to two. The Eagles scored the next four points to take a 63-57 lead. With 3:16 remaining, junior Kyle Duke hit two free throws before a Harris free throw extended NCCU's lead to 64-59 with 2:57 to play. The two teams went silent offensively over the next 2 1/2 minutes, which benefited the Eagles and ended any hopes the Aggies had of rallying.
"Sometimes you make shots, sometimes you don't. That's just the name of the game. What I look at from that is I have to put these guys in better positions to get easier shots. Give North Carolina Central credit. It was a well-played game and hard-fought."
Glasper led the Aggies with 12 points and seven rebounds but made just 3 of 17 shots from the floor. Nikolaos Chitikoudis added 10 points and six rebounds on 5-for-9 shooting. NCCU improved to 5-7 on the season as Harris led the Eagles with 18 points and six rebounds.
NCCU jumped out to an 18-8 lead over the first seven minutes of the game, and the Eagles extended that lead to 22-11 with 10:39 remaining in the first half. But the Aggies went on a 12-0 run that culminated in Jalal McKie taking a pass from Chitikoudis from the post and netted a three to give the Aggies a 23-22 lead with 6:07 remaining in the half.
The two teams experienced three ties from there in the first half, the final one coming on two Duke free throws to tie the game at 29. NCCU went on a 7-0 run from there before Chitikoudis scored on a layup with 20 seconds remaining in the first half to send the Aggies into the locker room trailing 36-31 at halftime.
