HAMPTON, Va. – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team went from a fast start to inexplicable over the final 33 minutes of action Monday night at the Hampton University Convocation Center against its longtime HBCU rival, Hampton.
Hampton University (HU) defeated A&T 82-61 in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play in front of a Greek Night crowd of 4,776 and in front of a national television audience on CBS Sports Network. Monday marked the Aggies' sixth straight loss, dropping them to 7-10 overall and 0-6 in conference play.
HU point guard Jalyke Gaines-Wyatt came off the bench to lead the Pirates with 24 points, five assists, four rebounds, two steals, and one blocked shot to help the Pirates improve to 9-10 overall and 3-3 in the CAA. HU beat the Aggies for the third straight time, and Monday marked A&T's most lopsided defeat to the Pirates since an 85-58 loss to HU on February 9, 2004.
But for anyone who saw the first seven minutes of Monday's game and then left the facility, the final score would not make sense.
Led by junior guard Trent Middleton, Jr., the Aggies looked terrific. They defended, rebounded, and hit shots from all over the floor. A&T's first possession of the game resulted in a pick-and-roll action between junior guard Dwayne Pierce and sophomore center Amadou Doumbia that ended with Doumbia catching a lob pass from Pierce for an easy layup.
Middleton then spotted up in the corner and took a pass from redshirt freshman Lewis Walker, splashing a 3-pointer on the Aggies' second possession. Middleton then turned an HU turnover into a transition 3-pointer to give the Aggies an 8-0 over the game's first 100 seconds. HU outscored A&T 9-4 over the next three minutes to get to within three at 12-9 before Pierce took a pass from Middleton in front of the Hampton bench and netted a three to push A&T's lead to six.
Pierce's 3-pointer sparked a 10-2 A&T run that culminated on a Zamoku Weluche-Ume pull-up jumper that gave the Aggies a 22-11 lead with 13:22 remaining in the first half. From there, the game undeniably turned in Hampton's favor.
The Pirates scored the next seven points before the Aggies responded with a Walker 3-pointer and a breakaway layup from Mujahiid Burton to give the Aggies a 27-18 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. However, Hampton put together a 20-3 spurt over the next 6 ½ minutes to take a 38-30 lead.
The spurt included Aidan Haskins' 3-pointer that gave HU its first lead at 32-30 with 5 ½ minutes remaining in the first half. HU led the rest of the way. Michael Eley's 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Hampton a 43-34 halftime lead.
"To be honest with you, I really don't know. I would have to look at the tape to give you an educated guess, said A&T head coach Monté Ross, referring to how the game got away from A&T on Monday. "I know we stopped scoring, and that was problematic for us. But I really need to watch the film to be able to pinpoint exactly what happened."
It took the Aggies nearly six minutes before they connected on their first field goal in the second half, a pull-up jumper in the lane from Middleton. Despite the scoring drought, A&T only trailed by eight, 47-39, following Middleton's jump shot. A&T tried to stay afloat from there. Pierce's jump shot put the Aggies down by 12, 68-56, with 6 ½ minutes remaining in the game. However, a 9-0 HU run ending in a Gaines-Wyatt layup proved to be the knockout blow the Pirates needed.
"We had a lull offensively, and I think it affected us on the defensive end," said Ross. "You never want that to happen. No matter what happens on the offensive end, you always want to sprint back and make it difficult for the other team to score, and we simply didn't do that tonight."
Pierce went 3-for-6 from 3-point range on his way to 16 points. Middleton added 14 points, and Weluche-Ume scored in double figures for the seventh straight game, with 10 points. The Aggies play two more times this week, hosting Hofstra at Corbett Sports Center on Thursday, January 22, as a part of A&T's Greek Night starting at 7 p.m. The Towson Tigers come to Aggieland on Saturday, January 24, to face the Aggies at 2 p.m.
