The North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team didn’t get its usual boost from the outside from Steven Rush or Austin Ewing and it disturbed head coach Jerry Eaves.

It wasn’t because Ewing and Rush weren’t hitting shots, it’s because the Aggies didn’t do the other things to compensate for an off night from his starting guards. The Aggies shot just 30 percent from the floor in a 68-52 loss to Hampton in front of national television audience watching on ESPNU.

The loss snapped the Aggies six-game winning streak as they ended their four-game homestand at 3-1. Thomas Coleman led the Aggies with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Ewing and Rush combined to shoot 4-for-21 from the field.

“We haven’t been able to create any kind of interior game yet,’’ said Eaves. “We’re going to have to do that to go far in the tournament. We just can’t be a perimeter team and win every game. We’re going to continue working to force that ball in the paint, attacking the rim, drawing fouls and converting 3-point plays. Our big people are going to have to grow and play better.”

The Aggies out-rebounded the bigger Pirates, but were not as physical as the Pirates on the offensive end. Meanwhile the Pirate big men converted on layups and their guards hit timely shots to keep the Pirates near top of the MEAC standings.

Pirate guards Rashad West had 17 points and backup guard Vincent Simpson added 13 as each player hit three 3-pointers apiece. Matthew Pilgrim hit 14 points and had six rebounds.

“Hats off to Hampton,’’ said Eaves. “They stuck to their game plan and hit enough big shots to keep a little cushion. It was one of the games where they weren’t spectacular shooting the ball from the outside, but they hit the ones they had to have.”

Perhaps the biggest one Hampton had came just after a media timeout in the second half. The Aggies cut the Pirates eight-point halftime lead to two as Rush and Ewing hit a 3-pointer apiece. Pilgrim scored before the under 16-minute media timeout to give Hampton a 43-39 lead with 15:45 to play. Out of the timeout, Simpson created separation on the dribble and connected on a three to give Hampton a 46-39 lead.

Rashad West followed with another three to push Hampton’s lead to 10. The Aggies got the lead down to six as Angelo Hernandez found a cutting Jason Wills going to the basket to slice Hampton’s lead to 49-43 with 12:45 remaining. But again, after a media timeout the Pirates hit a timely three. This time it was Pirates forward Adrian Woodard who popped open in the corner to hit his only three of the game.

It gave the Pirates a 52-43 as the Aggies hit just three field goals over the final 11 ? minutes of the game to fall to 11-10 overall and 5-3 in the conference. The Pirates put separation between themselves and the Aggies as they improved to 13-7 overall and 7-1 in the MEAC.

“You can’t even count all the missed layups we had,’’ said Eaves. “If we’re hitting our layups we don’t have to rely on Steve and Austin to hit all their shots for us to win the game. That’s unfair to them. You have to be able to attack the basket and finish in the paint and we haven’t gotten that from our big people on consistent basis all year.”