CHARLESTON, SC – North Carolina A&T could not overcome the College of Charleston's size on Thursday. Still, they discovered a little more depth as the Coastal Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship Tournament approaches.
The Cougars used a healthy rebounding and second-chance points advantage to defeat the Aggies 80-58 at TD Arena. But in the loss, freshman forward Nikolaos Chitikoudis had a career night. Junior guard Ahmad Hamilton, who has played limited minutes this season, played a career-high 11 minutes on Thursday, scoring four points. In addition, sophomore point guard Camian Shell had his usual solid game.
"One of the things we ask them to do is fight for 40 minutes," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "They fought, and I can't fault them for that. They rumbled. It's not moral victories for me. But there are some things I want to see and need to see from our guys, and they showed it to me tonight. "
The Cougars took an early 14-8 lead before Aggies guard Jalal McKie hit a 3-pointer, followed by a Chitikoudis jump shot that cut the Charleston's lead to one. A&T even had a chance to take the lead, but Shell's 3-pointer went wide right. Shell's miss was part of a seven-minute period where the Aggies did not connect on a field goal.
When Aggies guard Kyle Duke made a turnaround jumper in the lane with 4:43 remaining in the first half, the Cougars had outscored the Aggies 16-3 over the Aggies seven-minute drought to take a 30-18 advantage. Charleston's lead grew to 15 before the Cougars took a 40-27 halftime lead.
But the Aggies exited the locker room intending to get back into the game. A&T center Jason Murphy putback his miss to cut the Cougars lead to 46-37 five minutes into the first half. Duke then hit two free throws to get the Aggies to within in seven.
But an offensive rebound by Charleston's CJ Fulton led to a 3-pointer from Jordan Crawford to push Charleston's advantage back to double figures. It sparked a 7-0 run to give the Cougars a 54-39 lead. Charleston had a 17-8 advantage in offensive rebounds, which led to a 20-4 advantage in second-chance points.
Shell hit a 3-pointer to end the run before Ben Burnham scored a jumper. Hamilton then entered the game and drove baseline to score to get the Aggies within 12, 56-44, with 11:36 remaining. Charleston scored the next five points to go ahead by 17. But Chitikoudis scored back-to-back buckets, and Hamilton drove baseline again to get Charleston's lead down to 11.
"I like to think that there is a way we practice every day that when guys get their opportunity, they're prepared to take advantage of it," said Ross. "I was really happy for Ahmad. The guys looked at me like I was crazy because I called a play for Ahmad in the huddle. Lo and behold, he went and got a layup for us. He is such a great, great person, so you want good things to happen to good people."
But after Hamilton's basket, the Cougars went on a 9-2 run, putting the game away by taking a 70-52 lead with 6:22 remaining. The Aggies played their fourth straight game without leading scorer Landon Glasper. They also played their second straight game without graduate forward Jeremy Robinson.
"We'll get the program to a point where we can overcome an injury or an illness," said Ross. "Right now, we're not there. We're still in our infancy stage, so yes, we've got to get these guys healthy. But some of these guys are getting some valuable minutes.
They're getting plays called for them. They're learning to take good shots, so when these guys return, we'll have even more guys we can count on."
Chitikoudis' career night included career highs in points (17), rebounds (12), blocked shots (4), field goals made (8) and field goals made (16). Chitikoudis secured his first carer double-double in the process. Shell finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Burnham led Charleston with 21 points.
A&T returns home to face Hofstra at 2 p.m. from Corbett Sports Center on Saturday.
