CHARLESTON, SC – North Carolina A&T turned up the volume on the offensive end and its intensity on the defensive end in an 82-73 win over The Citadel Bulldogs at McAlister Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon in non-conference men's basketball action.
Sophomore Ryan Forrest helped the Aggies improve to 2-2 on the season with a collegiate career-high 26 points. Forrest shot 9-for-20 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free throw line. Forrest scored 25 points twice for Northwestern State last season. Three other Aggies scored in double figures, including sophomore Jahnathan Lamothe, who scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half. He was 5-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-4 from 3-point range.
The Aggies overcame an offensive onslaught from Bulldogs senior Brody Fox. Fox had 19 first-half points on 9-for-12 shooting, with his only three misses coming from 3-point range. Despite his numbers and the Bulldogs shooting 50 percent (15-30) in the first half, The Citadel only led 39-36 at halftime.
That's partly because the Aggies did not have a horrible shooting first half, converting 14 of 31 (.452) from the field led by Forrest's 12.
"We started off slow defensively," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "We know we are going to be able to score. But the key for us was slowing down Brody Fox. He killed us in the first half, but I thought Jahnathan Lamothe did an unbelievable job of stepping up and slowing him down. And that's what we must do because we are a work in progress defensively. If we keep getting better defensively, we will be okay."
With the help of Lamothe, the Aggies held Fox to six second-half points, limiting him to only four shot attempts. Lamothe not only turned up his intensity on the defensive end, he became an offensive weapon for A&T. A Lamothe 3-pointer brought the Aggies to within one, 51-50, four minutes into the second half.
Lamothe's three was followed by a steal and a layup from junior Landon Glasper that gave the Aggies their first lead since the 12:46 mark of the first half. Glasper was fouled on the play and completed the 3-point play to put the Aggies ahead 53-51. Fox answered with a short jumper in the lane to tie the game at 53-53 with 15 minutes to play.
The two teams tied two more times before Forrest gave the Aggies the lead for good with two free throws that gave the Aggies a 66-64 advantage with 9:19 remaining. Forrest followed his free throws with a turnaround jump shot. A Lamothe 3-pointer and a Forrest jump shot completed A&T's 9-0 run to put them up 73-64 with 6:53 remaining on the clock.
The Citadel scored the next five points to get to within four, but A&T's offense was too good. The Aggies only turned the ball over twice and had a 14-2 advantage in points off turnovers, as The Citadel turned the ball over 16 times. A&T answered The Citadel's 5-0 run with a Nikolaos Chitikoudis layup. Forrest added two more free throws and a Bulldogs turnover led to a Chitikoudis putback that put the Aggies ahead 79-69 with 1:23 remaining.
"If we can take care of the basketball like we did today with the way these guys get up and down the floor and like to score the basketball, that's a big plus for us," said Ross. "We preach taking care of the ball, but it's difficult to go on the road and take care of the basketball. We have a little mantra that we use: 'The way you get road wins is you make your free throws, take care of the basketball, and play good defense.' We at least had two of the three."
Ross added that the Aggies' style of play invites teams to score points, so the goal is to hold teams to 70 or fewer points, and even if opponents exceed that, the goal is to hold down the shooting percentages. Fox did finish with 25 points on 12-for-16 shooting as the Bulldogs dropped to 3-2.
Junior Camian Shell added 12 points for A&T, and Glasper finished with 10. The A&T bigs also played well, with sophomore Will Felton finishing with seven points and seven rebounds and Chitikoudis adding nine points and eight rebounds. The duo was a combined 7-for-9 from the floor. The Aggies will try to further their defensive efforts when they return to action against the Morgan State Bears on Wednesday at 7 p.m., from Corbett Sports Center.
