GREENSBORO – North Carolina A&T has its first Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) men's basketball win this season, and it came in front of a near-capacity crowd at Corbett Sports Center against a very talented team with a very gifted player, and if all of that is not enough to fill the dramatic appetite.
The Aggies had to come from behind to get the 79-78 W over the Hofstra Pride on Thursday. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Aggies, improving them to 8-10 overall and 1-6 in the CAA. Hofstra dropped its third straight to fall to 13-7 overall and 4-3 in league play.
"Obviously, thrilled to get our first league win," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "I thought except for Monday night against Hampton, we were close, and we just didn't do the little things to win games. We couldn't get those stops at the end of the game to get over the hump. But tonight, I was extremely, extremely proud of these guys.
To our defense, everybody had a part in defending, because goodness gracious, I didn't think they were going to miss a three in the first half. That was a tremendous, tremendous shooting display that they put on."
A&T had struggled defensively coming into Friday night's game. CAA opponents went into the game shooting 48.3 percent against A&T while averaging 83.5 points. It appeared the Aggies would follow that same pattern in the first half of Thursday's game. Hofstra, who came into the game with non-conference wins over Pitt and Syracuse, connected on step-back threes, pull-up jumpers, acrobatic drives to the basket.
Name the shot; it went in for the Pride in the first half. Hofstra shot 52.8 percent from the floor and were 10-for-17 (.588) from 3-point range. In addition, the Pride did not turn the ball over in the first half.
Cruz Davis, the conference's leading scorer who had three 30-plus point games coming into the game, had 20 first-half points on 8-for-12 shooting. He ended the night with 30 points. Meanwhile, Jaeden Roberts made 5 of 6 3-pointers coming off the bench in the first half on his way to 17 first-half points. Despite all the hot shooting, however, the Aggies were still within striking distance, trailing 43-30 at halftime.
"We challenged the guys at halftime to take away that 3-point shot and make these guys have to put the ball on the deck," said Ross. "On the other end of the floor, offensively, I just thought (Trent Middleton, Jr.) got into a rhythm. Obviously, (Lewis Walker) got into a rhythm. And when that happens, we want these guys to take good shots as they did. But we want to keep feeding and riding the hot hand."
Within the first six minutes of the second half, the Aggies erased Hofstra's lead as Middleton's jumper brought the Aggies to within two at 57-55. A&T tied the game at 65 on a beautiful turnaround baseline jumper from Walker with 7:05 remaining in the game.
Thirty seconds later, Middleton gave A&T its first lead since the 12:44 mark of the first half when he pulled up for a 3-pointer to give the Aggies a 68-65 advantage. An Amadou Doumbia tip-in gave the Aggies a five-point advantage with 5 ½ minutes to play.
"These guys got a lot of pride," said Ross. "And we really reduced it to being back in the playground, where you just had to guard them. Forget all that stuff we talked about; let's go mano y mano. Guard these guys. And I think these guys did a hell of a job."
The Aggies lead was still four with 2 ½ minutes remaining until Davis's 3-point play got the Pride to within one at 76-75. Roberts tied the game at 76 with a free throw before Walker's pull-up jumper put the Aggies ahead by two. But Doumbia fouled Davis going baseline.
Davis made both free throws to tie the game before Middleton drove to the basket and got bumped by Hofstra center Silas Sunday with 3.9 seconds remaining. Middleton missed the first free throw but made the second to put the Aggies ahead 79-78.
"No pressure, coach believed in me, my teammates believed in me," said Middleton about missing the first free throw. "I just had to step up and get it."
Hofstra's Biggie Patterson got a good look to win the game from just beyond 3-point range, but his shot went long, giving the Aggies their first conference win.
Walker made all eight of his free throw attempts on his way to 24 points and seven rebounds on 7-for-12 shooting from the field. Middleton added 20 points, and Zamoku Weluche-Ume secured his fifth double-double in seven games with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Aggies will look for CAA win No. 2 on Saturday when they host the Towson Tigers at Corbett starting at noon.
