STONY BROOK, NY – The excellent news for the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team on Thursday was the return of leading scorer Landon Glasper and key big man Nikolaos Chitikoudis. But bad news seven minutes into the game became the loss of starting point guard and second-leading scorer Camian Shell, who left the game with an injury.
The mixture of the good and the bad resulted in A&T losing its sixth straight with an 80-64 loss to Stony Brook University (SBU) at Island Federal Credit Union Arena. A&T dropped to 7-21 overall and 5-10 in the Coastal Athletic Association. The Seawolves improved to 15-13 overall and 8-7 in league play.
Glasper missed A&T's previous seven games with a leg injury. The Aggies went 1-6 over that stretch. In his return, Glasper led the Aggies with 16 points, with all 16 coming in the first half on 5-for-12 shooting. He did add five rebounds, five assists, and three steals to his totals, even though he went 0-for-5 from the field.
On the other hand, Chitikoudis scored all 13 of his points in the second half, going 4-for6 from the floor and 5-for-7 from the free throw line. Freshmen Jalal McKie and Uchenna Kellman-Nicholes had 10 points each. Kellman-Nicholes added six rebounds.
"I don't know if (Glasper) was playing off adrenaline or what, but Lando in the first half looked like Lando of old," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "I was shocked to see that because he's been out so long, and I didn't know how long it would take him to get his wind back. Once Cam went out, they could focus all their attention on him, double-teaming him coming off ball screens and those types of things. It made it really difficult for Landon.
I'm glad both of them (Chitikoudis and Glasper) were able to get a game under their belts. They both played well, and I'm looking forward to what they can do for us against Monmouth."
Shell left Thursday's game with 12 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half. The Aggies trailed 15-11 at the time before an Aaron Clarke layup gave the Seawolves a six-point lead. Kellman-Nicholes answered with a 3-pointer to settle the Aggies without their floor leader before the media timeout at the 11:32 mark.
Over the next six minutes, the Aggies tied the game at 22 with a Glasper 3-pointer before SBU's Jared Frey reclaimed the lead with a three. Glasper fired back with another 3-pointer to tie the game with five minutes to play. But SBU outscored the Aggies 14-2 over the next five minutes to take a 39-27 lead. McKie tied the game with a bucket before the half to send the Aggies into the locker room trailing by 10.
SBU scored three quick baskets to open the second half to take a 45-29 lead. A&T never got the lead under double figures, and the Seawolves led by as many as 26 in the second half. Tyler Stephenson-Moore led the Seawolves with 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting.
The Aggies, who still played without veteran forward Jeremy Robinson, will try to end their losing streak on Saturday when they travel to West Long Branch, NJ, to face the Monmouth Hawks at 2 p.m.
"Cam is such an important piece to us, so emotionally, we got rocked when it happened to us," said Ross. "He is the glue that holds us together. Hopefully, get him back sooner than later."
