DUNNING LIFTS PIRATES PAST DELAWARE STATE IN DOUBLE OT
HAMPTON, Va. -Hampton found itself playing extra hoops for the second straight game on Monday, but still picked up its fifth straight win, beating Delaware State 85-84 in double overtime at the HU Convocation Center.
The Pirates were down 84-82 in the closing seconds of the second overtime, but senior guard Wesley Dunning drained a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left to give the Pirates (10-13, 7-3 MEAC) the victory.
Junior guard/forward Du'Vaughn Maxwell led the way with a career-high 29 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. Freshman guard Ke'Ron Brown added a career-high 17 points, while sophomore center Emmanuel Okoroba added 14 points.
The Pirates shot 45.2 percent (28-for-62) from the floor, hitting just two of their 12 3-pointers and going 27-for-36 (75.0 percent) from the free throw line.
Delaware State (10-13, 5-4 MEAC) shot 43.9 percent (29-for-66) from the floor, but made just 20 of their 32 free throws (62.5 percent). The Hornets out-rebounded the Pirates 44-37.
For the complete story, visit www.hamptonpirates.com or www.dsuhornets.com.
EAGLES THROW FINAL BLOW WIN IN NO. 11 IN-A-ROW
DURHAM, N.C. - The eighth meeting between North Carolina Central University and Bethune Cookman University was nothing short of a heavyweight boxing match as Ray Willis scored the final 11 points for the Eagles to help put away the Wildcats in the 81-75 season-sweeping victory inside McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium on Monday night.
With 10:32 left in the first half following one of Jeremy Ingram's three shots from the outside, tempers flared on both sides and B-CU's Allan Dempster was ejected from the game for throwing an elbow.
The Eagles (17-7, 10-0 MEAC) used this jolt of energy to go on a 13-0 run highlighted by a deep three-pointer from Ingram pushing the maroon and gray lead to 30-13 and sending the near-capacity crowd of 2,614 to their feet.
Foul trouble soon began to hurt NCCU as the Wildcats (9-16, 4-6 MEAC) went on a 14-3 run to cut the margin down to six at 33-27 with 3:19 left.
NCCU held the lead through the remainder of the first frame taking a 41-36 advantage into the locker room.
B-CU stormed out to begin the second half as the Wildcats took their first lead of the game at 42-41 on a Javoris Bryant jumper, but NCCU answered right back with a Stanton Kidd alley-oop from Emanuel Chapman to take a 43-42 lead.
Back-to-back Adrien Coleman layups would get BCU to within two points at 48-46, but NCCU put the clamps down on the visiting Cats. The maroon and gray went on a 14-4 run pushing their lead to 62-50, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers by Willis and Ingram with 9:25 left in the second stanza.
Over the next four minutes and change, Bethune-Cookman went on a 13-to-1 rally, quieting the ruckus crowd and forcing NCCU head coach LeVelle Moton to take a 30 second timeout as the Wildcats tied the game at 63 all with 5:25 left.
The shot of the night came from Willis with 2:02 left in the game, as he drained a three from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down sending the crowd into a frenzy and extending the maroon and gray lead to 73-67.
Willis would go on to score the final 11 points including a statement dunk which sealed the NCCU victory, 81-75 the final score.
Three Bethune-Cookman student athletes scored in double figures, including Adrien Coleman who led the Wildcats tying a career-high with 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Kevin Dukes scored 12 points and Malik Jackson contributed 10 points.
Leading the Eagles was Jeremy Ingram who scored a career-high 32 points which included going 17-for-20 from the free throw line, while Ray Willis chipped in with 19 points.
NCCU looks to extend its winning streak to 12 games as they head to Savannah, Ga. to battle the reigning MEAC regular season champion Tigers of Savannah State University on Saturday, February 16, inside Tiger Arena at 6:00 p.m.
For the complete story, visit www.NCCUEaglePride.com or www.bcuathletics.com.