GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T men's basketball said farewell to two significant members of its program on Thursday as the Aggies played their home season finale at Corbett Sports Center against the Towson Tigers.
Before facing the Tigers, the Aggies honored 6-foot-6 forward Jeremy Robinson, 6-2 guard Ahmad Hamilton, and longtime student manager Ryli Hagler. A&T also honored its senior cheerleaders at halftime. Unfortunately, the Aggies could not send the seniors out on a high note as Towson defeated the Aggies 84-58. Robinson did not play in the game because of an injury, and Hamilton played 13 minutes.
But no amount of celebration could stop what Towson did on the glass Thursday night. The Tigers out-rebounded A&T 51-27 and outscored A&T 20-7 in second-chance points and 40-24 in the paint. A&T did play without 6-9 center Jason Murphy, the team's leading rebounder.
A&T dropped its eighth straight to fall to 7-23 overall and 5-12 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play with one game remaining before the CAA tournament in Washington, D.C. A&T looks locked into the No. 12 seed going into the District, March 8-12. The only question is whether the Aggies will open with Hampton or William & Mary.
They are a combined 3-0 against those teams during the regular season. Towson improved to 18-12 and 11-6 in league play. Depending on Saturday's results, the Aggies could see the Tigers again in the tournament if they win their opening-round game.
After A&T sophomore guard Landon Glasper found freshman forward Nikolaos Chitikoudis open for a short jumper to cut Towson's lead to 12-10 eight minutes into the game, Towson started to knock down shots, whereas A&T could not. The Tigers outscored the Aggies 24-3 over the next nine minutes, hitting four 3-pointers during the spurt to take a 36-13 lead. The Tigers took a 42-21 lead into the half and led by as many as 34 in the second half.
Freshman Jalal McKie led A&T with 16 points and four rebounds. Glasper added 11 points, and sophomore point guard Camian Shell had 10. Nendah Turke had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers. A&T has one regular-season game remaining, a road test against the Campbell Fighting Camels at 4 p.m.
