GREENSBORO – Junior Zamoku Weluche-Ume said what people did not see during North Carolina A&T's 0-6 start in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) was a very confident men's basketball team. What we are seeing now, according to Weluche-Ume, is that confidence manifesting itself on the basketball court on gameday.

Weluche-Ume secured his second consecutive double-double and his fifth in the last seven games with 11 points and a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Aggies to an 80-73 win over the Towson Tigers at Corbett Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

A&T's last two wins have come against Hofstra, the highest-ranked CAA team in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, and Towson, the CAA preseason favorite who came into Saturday's game winners of four straight. The Aggies placed five players in double figures for the first time since December 20, 2025, against Mid-Atlantic Christian, improving to 9-10 overall and 2-6 in the CAA.

"Confidence? I'd say, we never really lost it," said Weluche-Ume. "You guys saw what was happening on the court. You didn't see what was happening behind the scenes. You didn't see coach come in every day with a smile on his face, telling us, 'You know how much work you're putting in, there's no reason why we can't win on the court.' So, I'd say we never really lost our confidence, but what you guys have seen in the last two games is the impact of all that."

Redshirt freshman Lewis Walker tied his career high with 33 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field, 5-for-7 from 3-point range, and 10-for-11 from the free throw line. Walker also had seven rebounds and four assists while also securing a career-high in 3-pointers made.

On January 15, Walker broke A&T's single-game freshman scoring record by posting 33 points at William & Mary. He now has the top two single-game scoring efforts by a freshman in program history and needs 116 points to break Sean Booker's single-season freshman scoring record, which currently stands at 420 points.
The other Aggies scoring in double figures included sophomore Dwayne Pierce (12), Trent Middleton, Jr. (11), and redshirt sophomore Will Felton, who came off the bench to score 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting.

"I just like to score the ball really," said Lewis. "Coach reminds me I'm going to be the top guy on the scouting report, so I know a lot of times when I want to go iso, I've got to have my head up to be able to find guys that are going to be wide open because a lot of teams are going to try to get the ball out of my hands in a way, so a part of my growth is playmaking and finding guys and helping other guys get going."

After Tyler Coleman's layup at the first-half buzzer gave Towson a 36-35 halftime lead, the Aggies really got going. They got going offensively and defensively in the second half. The Aggies held Towson to 35.1 percent shooting in the second half and were 14-for-22 (.636) from the floor offensively. The effort helped A&T build ilt its lead to double figures, 55-44, on a transition layup by Weluche-Ume with 11:13 remaining in the game. The Aggies captured their biggest lead of the game at 65-48 with 7 ½ minutes to play on a layup from Middleton.

Towson outscored A&T 11-2 over the next four minutes, culminating in a 3-pointer from the top of the key by leading scorer Tyler Tejada to bring the Tigers to within eight, 67-59. However, despite
Towson implementing full-court pressure defense that the Aggies struggled with late in the game, the Tigers never got any closer than seven points over the final 3 ½ minutes. Tejada led Towson with 22 points, but the Tigers dropped to 12-10 overall and 4-5 in league play.

"Our defense led to us being able to build that lead, and we'll get to the point where it's a 17-point lead, and these guys will get greedy, and understand, okay, let's get a good quality shot here. Let's make it a 19-point, a 20-point lead and so on," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "We'll get to that point. We're probably not there yet, but these guys will get there. We're still developing. Believe it or not."

He sounds confident. The Aggies will need it with their next three games on the road, starting 7 p.m., Thursday, January 29, at Monmouth before playing at Drexel and Charleston.