BUIES CREEK, NC – North Carolina A&T has faced two of the top four men's basketball teams in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) over the past two games and gave both squads fits.
Unfortunately, both games were on the road and neither resulted in a win for the Aggies. Four days after giving the College Charleston a scare in Charleston, SC, the Aggies did the same to the Campbell Fighting Camels before coming up short, 66-62, Monday night in a live nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network from Gilbert Craig Gore Arena.
The Aggies did many necessary things to get a win before falling to 4-21 overall and 0-12 in the CAA. They scored effectively around the paint. They shot 13-for-16 (.813) from the free throw line and out-rebounded the Camels 34-27.
However, the Camels shot 71.4 percent in the second half to win their seventh straight, improving to 14-11 overall and 9-3 in league play. Campbell and Charleston are tied for third place in the CAA standings.
"We are always appreciative of the effort. That's become a staple of ours just in terms of making sure we play hard every single minute, making sure we play for 40," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "We gave ourselves a chance by the way we guarded. Percentage-wise, in the second half, it wasn't the best, but that's a team that has had an average margin of victory of 22 points, and our guys fought them tooth and nail."
Ross added that his team needs to focus on the details, such as blocking out and finishing around the rim because A&T's margin for error is small due to their lack of depth. The Aggies offense played nearly flawless basketball for much of the game.
A&T shot just 1-for-14 (.017) from 3-point range. Inside the arc, however, the Aggies were 23-for-38 (.605) as they used the combination of sophomores Jahnathan Lamothe and Nikolaos Chitikoudis penetrating to the basket and the hustle of sophomore Bryson Ogletree to generate offense.
Chitikoudis, who had 17 points and seven rebounds on 8-for-12 shooting, gave the Aggies a 43-36 lead with 11 ½ minutes remaining on a turnaround hook shot. Campbell put together an 11-3 run over the next five minutes of action to take a 47-46 lead. It marked the Camels' first lead since the 5:59 mark of the first half.
The Camels grew their lead to 56-50 with 4:15 to play on a layup from Colby Duggan. Things looked dire for the Aggies when Tasos Cook hit two free throws with 37 seconds remaining to give Campbell a 63-55 advantage.
Despite any and all circumstances this season, however, the Aggies have been resilient. They remained that way on Monday. A&T junior point guard Camian Shell made a strong move to the basket and scored. Cook fouled Shell on the play, and Shell completed the and-1 to bring the Aggies to within five.
Campbell, who struggled at the foul line throughout the game, missed the front end of a one-and-one, leading to two Jalal McKie free throws for A&T, cutting the deficit to 63-60 with 20 seconds on the clock. Cook made one of two free throws for Campbell to put his team ahead by two possessions.
Ogletree kept the Aggies' hopes alive by scoring on a layup with 6.6 seconds remaining. The Aggies tried to foul after the inbounds play, but the officials did not blow the whistle. Instead, the action continued, and a foul did not get called until 0.9 seconds remained in the game.
"We'll lick our wounds here for a couple of hours, and then we'll have to turn the page," said Ross.
Lamothe led the Aggies with 20 points and tied a career-high with 17 rebounds. Ogletree added 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Duggan had 26 points on 11-for-17 shooting for the Camels. A&T returns to action at 7 p.m., Thursday, with a road game at Elon.
