Eagles hold Aggies to 29.8 percent shooting, force 16 turnovers in the victory
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Another 30-point performance by senior Jeremy Ingram (Charlotte, N.C.) and the patented solid North Carolina Central University defense was all the maroon and gray needed to earn the season sweep over North Carolina A&T in the 73-55 victory inside a sold-out Corbett Sports Center on Saturday night in Greensboro, N.C.
The win is No. 13 in-a-row for the Eagles as they now have 21 victories on the year.
NCCU jumped out front of NC A&T early and often taking a 16-3 advantage with 13:24 left in the first frame as Ingram showed the Aggie faithful he was playing at another level, scoring 8 points in the first six minutes.
A&T did make a move, going on an 11-3 run over the next six minutes to cut the margin to 19-14 on an alley-oop dunk to Waylan Siverand that gave the raucous crowd something to cheer about.
The Eagles did not budge stretching the lead back out to double figures at 27-17 with 4:54 left on another Ingram shot from deep as the maroon and gray took a 35-23 advantage into the locker room
Despite the solid defensive effort, the maroon and gray had not done enough to put away the pesky Aggies who finished the first frame shooting 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) from-the field, but 9-for-13 from the foul line. On the other hand, NCCU shot 3-for-10 (30.0 percent) from three-point range and was out rebounded 24-19.
Trailing by 12, NC A&T head coach Cy Alexander's resilient squad tried to fight back in the second half, but simply could not muster up enough offense to make a late charge. Every time the Aggies cut the deficit to single digits, the Eagles had an answer.
Two minutes into the second half, a Bruce Beckford jumper cut it to seven at 37-30 getting the Aggie faithful on their feet, but the Eagles simply pushed the lead back to 11 by drilling four straight free throws to make it 41-30.
With 7:02 left, an Ahmad Abdullah three-pointer brought A&T back within nine at 55-46 one last time, but the mighty Eagles put the Aggies back in their crate for the night with a quick 7-0 spurt, highlighted by an Ingram three-pointer with 4:27 left to make it 63-47.
The maroon and gray led by as much as 20 down-the-stretch on the way to a 73-55 victory over NC A&T.
When the final whistle blew, there was a combined 59 fouls called and 84 free throws attempted in the contest. In the second half alone, there were 35 personal fouls called and 50 free throws attempted, slowing down the contest greatly. NCCU was not affected shooting a clutch 23-for-30 (76.7 percent) from the foul line to keep the lead intact.
The beneficiary of Alexander's defensive adjustments and the number of fouls was senior guard Alfonzo Houston for the Eagles who finished the game with 21 points going 15-for-18 from the foul line in the win with 11 of those coming in the second half.
Ingram led all scorers with 30 points on 8-for-16 shooting from-the-field, 3-for-7 from three-point range, and 11-for-15 from the charity stripe in the win.
NC A&T (8-20, 4-9 MEAC) was led by senior guard Lamont Middleton (15 points) and sophomore forward Bruce Beckford (15 points). Middleton struggled offensively going 3-for-13 from-the-field, just 1-for-6 from beyond-the-arc, but was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. As a team, the Aggies finished the game shooting 29.8 percent from-the-field (14-for-47), 4-for-20 (20.0 percent) from behind-the-arc, and 16 turnovers in their fourth straight loss.
NCCU (21-5, 12-1 MEAC) has another quick turnaround as they hit the road for the final nonconference game of the year as the Eagles take on the Highlanders of NJIT on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 7:00 p.m. from the Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark, N.J.
Visit www.NCCUEaglePride.com or download the NCCU Sports Network app available in the App Store, Google Play and Amazon for the latest on NCCU Athletics.
Chris Hooks, Assistant Sports Information Director/Broadcast Media Coordinator
COURTESY NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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