Eagles Roll Over Bulldogs to Earn 11th Straight Win
DURHAM, N.C. – A sluggish start from North Carolina Central University did nothing to derail the MEAC hottest team as the Eagles forced South Carolina State into 21 turnovers on the way to a 67-53 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday night inside Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center in Orangeburg, S.C.
NCCU started the game slow on the offensive side of the floor going 3-for-17 (17.6 percent) and trailed by as much as five through the opening minutes of the game.
SC State led 14-9 following a Theron Stephen’s layup with 11:23 left in the first frame and the maroon and gray awoke, going on a 13-0 run over the next six minutes that gave the Eagles a 22-14 lead, and NCCU never looked back taking a 30-22 advantage into the locker room.
During the big first half run, four different Eagles scored, led by Jeremy Ingram’s (Charlotte, N.C.) five points to give the maroon and gray the advantage.
With his four first half steals, senior point guard Emanuel Chapman (Raleigh, N.C.) moved to fourth all-time at NCCU as he now has 159 thefts in his career.
The second half the host Bulldogs tried to rally in the second half, but the Eagle offense picked it up and managed to stretch the lead out to as much as 22 points as sophomore Dante Holmes (Baltimore, Md.) drilled a three-pointer that gave the maroon and gray a 61-39 lead with 5:42 left.
Read more at SCSUAthletics.com.
Pirates Win in Overtime at Norfolk State
NORFOLK, Va. – The Hampton University men’s basketball team needed five extra minutes, but the Pirates still beat rival Norfolk State 79-73 Saturday evening in Echols Hall to further establish themselves in the upper half of the conference standings.
The Pirates (14-11, 9-3 MEAC) have won three straight games and six of their last seven.
Sophomore guard Dwight Meikle led the Pirates with 14 points off the bench, while sophomore guard Deron Powers, sophomore guard Brian Darden (Hampton, Va.), and senior forward Du’Vaughn Maxwell each added 11 points.
Jervon Pressley scored on a floating layup to open overtime and give the Pirates a 68-66 lead, and then added free throws at the 4:09 mark of overtime to grow that lead to 70-66.
Darden added a steal and a breakaway layup to put the Pirates up 72-66, and then he broke toward the basket again, got fouled, and hit a free throw to give Hampton a 73-66 lead with 3:23 left. Norfolk State’s first basket of overtime didn’t come until the 2:49 mark, when Marese Phelps hit a jumper to cut Hampton’s lead to 73-68.
Read more at HamptonPirates.com.
FAMU rallies past Coppin State for 82-71 win
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida A&M Men’s Basketball team scored 50 second half point to rally past Coppin State, 82-71 here Saturday night at Al Lawson Center in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Contest.
Reggie Lewis tied the contest at 41-41 with a made jumper with 16:40 left in the game. FAMU would then put together a 16-7 run to take a 57-48 lead with 11:09 to go in the game, capped off by a Walter Davis layup.
The Rattlers would then extend their lead to much as 16 points with a Lewis layup with 1:51 to go in the game.
FAMU finished the game shooting 47.1 percent (32-of-68), whereas CSU shot 37.5 percent (24-of-64).
In the first half, a pair of free throws by Andre Armstrong would tie the contest at 17-17 with 8:40 remaining in the first, for the third tie of the half.
Read more at FAMUAthletics.com.
Hawks Defeat Howard on Homecoming
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Down by 20 points with 16 minutes to play, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team completed a comeback for the ages, as the Hawks defeated Howard, 87-73, before 4,602 on Homecoming weekend at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center. The mind-blowing run was fueled by senior Troy Snyder, who had career-highs in points (34) and assists (five). The 20-point comeback win was the largest overcome by a Hawk squad since 2005.
UMES found itself down by 11 at the break, before Howard extended the margin to 20 points in the early stages of the second. It was a 19-5 UMES run over a seven-minute span that catapulted Hawk fans into a frenzy and send the momentum in favor of the maroon and gray. A three by Snyder moments later gave UMES its first lead in nearly 25 minutes and the Hawks closed the game by scoring 20 of the game's final 27 points.
Snyder's 34 points in the game proved to be the most points scored by a Hawk player in six years. He finished up with 14 rebounds, just one shy of his career-high of 15, and tied a career-high of five assists. Freshman Hakeem Baxter had 22 points behind a 14-of-17 effort from the free-throw line and senior Louis Bell had 15 points in 34 minutes. The 87 points were the second most scored by UMES this year and most in a MEAC contest in two years, dating back to 2011 when the Hawks pinned 88 points on Norfolk State.
Read more at UMESHawks.com.
Hornets Stay Hot to Post Third Straight Win
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Delaware State shot better than 60-percent for the second straight game en route to a 79-67 MEAC win over Bethune-Cookman at Moore Gym today. The Hornets have won a season-high three games in a row to improve to 7-17 overall and 3-8 in conference play.
DSU was 25-for-41 from the field (61%), including 11-of-20 from three-point territory (55%). The Hornets also knocked down 18-of-20 free throws (90%). The 11 three-pointers marked a season high for the team.
Delaware State has hit 51 of 82 shots from the floor (62.2%) in the last two games. The Hornets were 26-for-41 from the field in their previous game, a 79-59 win over Savannah State last Monday.
Tyshawn Bell matched his career-high with 21 points to lead all scorers. Bell has tallied 61 points in the last three games to improve his season average to a team-high 12.1 points per game. He also grabbed 10 rebounds in the contest to record his second career double-double.
DeAndre Haywood recorded a career-high for the second straight game, collecting 17 points.
Read more at DSUHornets.com.