Eagles Stifle Aggies to Earn First MEAC Win
DURHAM, N.C. - In front of a fired-up 3,039 mostly maroon-clad fans of North Carolina Central University, the Eagles held arch-rival North Carolina A&T State University to a season-low 46 points, shooting 27.5 percent from the field in route to a 65-46 conference win over the Aggies in McDougald-McLendon Gym on Saturday.
The win was not only the Eagles fourth in-a-row, but NCCU earned its first conference victory since February 15, 2007.
The 138th edition of this storied rivalry began a little slow offensively as each team struggled from the field seeing the maroon and gray hold on to a 15-9 lead more than 10 minutes into the game.
The Aggies swung back with an 8-0 run to grab its first lead of the day taking the air out of the home crowd on an R.J. Buck layup that put the score at 17-15 in favor of A&T with 6:44 to go.
Following a Lawrence Smith free-throw that gave the Aggies an 18-15 lead, senior Landon Clement (Raleigh, N.C.) drilled his second of four three-pointers on the day to tie the game up at 18. That three began a 16-2 run by the Eagles to give them the 31-20 advantage with 2:32 to go in the first half. Clement's four treys give him 137 career three-pointers moving him up to fifth all-time at NCCU in in that category.
The Eagles went to take 35-28 lead into the locker room after the Aggies went on an 8-4 run in the final minutes to close the gap at the intermission.
Read more at NCCUEaglePride.com
NSU Slips Past Savannah State
NORFOLK, Va. - Senior wing player Brandon Wheeless drained a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left to lift Norfolk State to a 60-58 win over Savannah State in the MEAC opener for both schools on Saturday evening at Echols Hall.
Wheeless' heroics helped save NSU, which led most of the second half until 17 seconds remained. The Spartans (5-3, 1-0 MEAC) held a 57-56 advantage with 31 seconds left and had the ball on its own baseline. But Wheeless' inbounds pass was stolen by Jyles Smith, leading to a fast-break for SSU (3-6, 1-1). Smith was fouled and hit two free throws with 17 seconds left, giving the Tigers their first lead of the half.
NSU brought the ball up the floor and worked it to Chris McEachin on the right wing, McEachin then drove to his left and found Wheeless open on the left wing. Wheeless calmly drained his second trey of the game - he also hit a late 3-pointer just before the half - to give NSU the lead. SSU called timeout, but wasn't able to get a shot off in the final 1.2 seconds.
Kyle O'Quinn scored 17 points - 13 in the second half - to lead the Spartans. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his seventh straight double-double.
The lead changed hands four times in the first four minutes of the second half before O'Quinn caught fire. He scored all the points in a 9-0 NSU run that gave NSU a 45-37 lead, its largest of the second half, with 13:51 remaining.
Read more at NSUSpartans.com
Hillary Haley Leads All Scores in Hawks Battle
Princess Anne, Md. -Hillary Haley led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore lost to MEAC opponent Delaware State 78-68 Saturday. Delaware State leads the all-time series 51-45 following the 96th meeting of the Hawks and Hornets.
Haley had a first half high of 13 points going 4-of-4 at the free-throw line, and was 4-of-9 (.444) from the field. He entered the game with 14-minutes remaining in the first half and quickly got to work dishing out an assist and scoring an early lay-up. Haley's score cut the Hornets lead to 15-13.
Following a missed shot by a teammate, Haley scored on a second-chance basket to give the Hawks its first lead of the game with 3:12 remaining. The Hawks continued to push the lead late into the first period. Haley converted two free throws to give UMES its third lead of the season entering halftime (35-31).
His second free-throw gave the Hawks its largest lead of the game (35-29) with less than a minute remaining. Haley was 6-of-11(.545) from the free-throw line and 7-of-15 (.466) from the field for the game. In his 32 minutes of play he posted his first double-double of the season and scored his highest total in points of the season.
Teammate Louis Bell struck first for UMES to cut into a 6-0 run held by the Hornets and finished second in points for the Hawks with 17. Bell's three-pointer cut the early part of the game to 6-3, and later converted a lay-up to bring the Hawks within two points (13- 11).
Read more at UMESHawks.com
Freshman Leads Eagles to win over West Virginia Tech
BALTIMORE -- Freshman Taariq Cephas scored a career-high 24 points and senior Antonio Williams added 14 points and 10 rebounds leading Coppin State to a 77-68 non-conference victory over West Virginia Tech on Saturday in the Physical Education Complex.
Cephas finished the game 7-of-11 from the floor, including 6-of-8 from the three-point line, to help the Eagles snap a four-game losing streak.
Cephas, whose previous career best was seven points against Oklahoma, entered the game averaging 3.8 points per game. He connected on back-to-back three-pointers that helped the Eagles overcome an early four-point deficit.
His first three-pointer cut the lead to 19-18 with 7:05 to play in the first half and then he followed with another three-pointer on the Eagles next trip down the floor that put Coppin State in front to stay at 21-19 with 6:44 remaining in the half.
Akeem Ellis converted a three-point play, Rodney Edwards hit a three-pointer and Williams capped the 14-0 run with a layup that pushed the Coppin State lead to 29-19 with 3:58 to play.
West Virginia Tech cut the lead to 32-27, but Edwards hit a free throw and Mike Simpson added a layup giving the Eagles a 35-27 lead at the intermission.
Read more at CoppinStateSports.com
Breeze Helps Bethune-Cookman Bounce FAMU, 74-59
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Anthony Breeze recorded 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead Bethune-Cookman to a 74-59 victory over Florida A&M Saturday night at Moore Gymnasium.
Breeze returned to the starting lineup after suffering a shoulder injury early in the season. The senior finished 6-10 from the field and 10-14 from the line with four blocks and three steals thrown in for good measure as the Wildcats knocked off its instate rival in a MEAC regular season matchup.
Adrien Coleman scored 18 points on 7-9 shooting and was one rebound away from a double-double and recorded four steals.
Read more at BCUAthletics.com
BEARS LOSE TO OHIO, 61-53
ATHENS, Ohio -- The Morgan State Bears gave it their all, but were unable to pull out the victory and lost to the Ohio Bobcats 61-53 on Saturday at the OU Convocation Center.
This one was in doubt until the final minute. Morgan State held a two-point lead following a technical foul call against OU head coach with under 5 minutes to play before the Bobcats made a final push.
Ivo Baltic hit baseline layup, and made a reverse layup that gave Ohio a 54-51 lead with 3:27 left.
Walter Offutt paced the Bobcats with a game-high 17 points, while Baltic had 14 points and Nick Kellogg came off the bench to score 10 points, including three 3-pointers - Ohio's only 3-pointers. D.J Cooper added a game-high seven assists.
The Bears shot 38.8 percent (19-49) from the field, connected on just 1-of-15 3-pointers and was 14-of-23 (60.9 percent) from the free throw line. Ohio was held to 19-of-52 (36.5 percent) shooting and shot 71.4 percent (20-28) from the charity stripe.
Read more at www.morganstatebears.com