GREENSBORO, N.C., January 5, 2009 ? The North Carolina A&T men’s matchup against Tennessee Wesleyan Monday night quickly turned from a basketball game into a comfortable evaluation period for head coach Jerry Eaves as the Aggies get ready for the re-start of conference play with an 84-47 win on Saturday.
The Aggies got a near-perfect night from their Greensboro duo to earn the victory over the Bulldogs at Corbett Sports Center. Greensboro Dudley graduate Robert Johnson finished with a career-high 21 points on 9-for-10 shooting. He also had seven rebounds. Fellow Greensboro native and Ben L. Smith graduate Tavarus Alston had 15 points on 5-for-5 shooting and added six assists.
Despite the relative ease the Aggies won with Monday night, there are some areas of the game Eaves spotted that will need improving before making a run at a MEAC title.
“My bigs are coming around,’’ said Eaves, specifically pointing out 6-foot-9 sophomore Thomas Coleman, 6-8 senior Julius McClurkin and 6-8 sophomore Kam Shepherd. “But they have to be more aggressive with the basketball. They have to want to score the basketball. I can’t want it for them. You’re starting to see them get more and more confident down there, but we have to get them to where they want to score it because that makes us better as a basketball team.”
Coleman finished with seven points on 3-for-3 shooting and had six blocks, putting him two shy of 100 for blocks for his career. Shepherd had a career-high eight rebounds and McClurkin had an impressive dunk toward the end of the game.
In terms of perimeter shooting, the Aggies were just 3-for-16 from 3-point range. In years past, when the Aggies main scorers were 3-point shooters that was a problem for Eaves and the Aggies. This season, however, Eaves said his team has the ability to score around the basket with its size.
“Three-for-16 last year buries us,’’ said Eaves. “If we go 3-for-16 a year ago, we only win this game by maybe four points. But 3-for-16 this year is not a disaster for us because we’re not having to score from out there to be successful.”
N.C. A&T was successful in most everything it did Monday night. The Bulldogs’ Rudy Adams hit a 3-pointer 5 ? minutes into the game to pull the Bulldogs to within four at 13-9. Alston answered with a 3-pointer and the Aggies were in domination mode from there. A Nick Wilson jumper put the Aggies up by nine, 24-15 with 11:44 remaining in the first half.
It led to a 12-0 Aggies run that ended when Johnson followed up his only miss of the night to give the Aggies a 34-15 lead with 5:33 remaining in the half. “If we are successful this year that means Robert Johnson played big for us,’’ said Eaves. “His presence in the lineup is so vital to what we want to do on the floor.”
The Aggies face defending MEAC Regular-Season champion Morgan State Saturday afternoon in Baltimore at 4.