Steven Rush knows how to break out of slump in style. The senior guard missed breaking the school record by two points as he finished with 40 points leading the Aggies to a 96-93 win over DePaul at Allstate Arena.
Rush did break his own single-game record for 3-pointers made in a game with 10. He broke the record last season when he hit nine against Norfolk State. As a team, the Aggies hit 17 3-pointers, which ties a school record. Austin Ewing added a career-high 21 points on a career-high six made 3-pointers as the Aggies improved to 4-2, their best start in 16 seasons.
“I kept telling people once Steven Rush gets going, look out,’’ said N.C. A&T head coach Jerry Eaves. “Steve’s a shooter. Shooters go through slumps. But you let him keep shooting because he’s too good a shooter to stay in a slump. I wasn’t worried about Steve struggling with his shot.”
The Blue Demons made the Aggies earn the upset win. They went on a 12-4 run to cut the Aggies lead to 87-82. But DePaul had no defense for Rush. He hit a three to put the Aggies up by eight with 2:28 to play.
The Blue Demons scored the next five points, capped off by a 3-point play from Draelon Burns that moved the Blue Demons to within three at 90-87 with 1:02 to play. Ewing put the Aggies back up by two possessions with a free throw. But Burns, who led the Blue Demons with 32 points, hit another deuce to make it 91-89 with 47 seconds remaining.
On the next possession, DePaul sent the Aggies back to the line where Angelo Hernandez hit one out of two to give the DePaul a chance to tie the game with a three. But Rush got defensive by stealing the ball from Burns. He followed that with two free throws to seal the game.
Despite Rush’s performance, James Jackson and Joe Binion still share the single-game scoring record at 41 points. But what perhaps more significant for Rush is that he returned to the same form he had in 2006-2007. He came into the game Rush was just 8-for-42 from the 3-point arc.
He had no such problems on Saturday. Rush hit five 3-pointers in the first half to help the Aggies overcome a 16-point first-half deficit to give the Aggies a 48-45 lead. He kept pouring it on in the second half. His first three of the second half gave the Aggies a 61-53 at the 15:13 mark.
He then swooped in the lane for two more points before stepping out and shocking the DePaul crowd when he hit a three well beyond the 3-point arc that gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the game at 66-53.
Freshman Thomas Coleman completed the Aggies 10-0 run with a dunk on a beautiful bounce pass from Tavarus Alston at the 13:11 mark. Over the next six minutes, the Blue Demons, who boast of a rich basketball tradition, cut the Aggies lead to 10, but another Rush three put the Aggies up 83-70 with just 6:05 to play