Wills goes 8-for-9 from the field

Box Score
PRINCESS ANNE, Md., February 3, 2007 – In the first three years of his tenure, and as he was trying to build the North Carolina A&T men’s basketball program, head coach Jerry Eaves had two road wins to his credit.

 But as a sign of a matured program, the Aggies have won four games away from home, including Saturday afternoon’s 70-57 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore at W.P. Hytche Athletic Center. Jason Wills led the way with 28 points as the Aggies shot 63.4 percent from the floor. It’s the best the Aggies have ever shot in the Eaves era.

“When we hit shots and run our offense the way we’re supposed to, we can be awfully good,’’ said Eaves. “Eastern Shore played us tough, but we put the ball in the basket which was big for us.”

Walter Booth and Steven Rush had 11 points apiece. A Rush steal and layup gave the Aggies a 53-40 lead with 12:25 remaining in the game. But despite shooting just 35.1 percent, the Hawks were able to remain close.

Danijel Krleski’s 3-pointer cut the lead to 10, 53-43. After a Trahern Chaplin free throw, the Hawks made things even tighter. Two Antonio McMillion layups cut the Aggies lead to seven. After a Chaplin layup, Milutin Mirjacic hit a 3-pointer to get the Hawks to within four.

But the Aggies defense stiffened from there and Wills would assert himself. Wills hit a driving layup to put the Aggies up six. He followed that basket with a hard-earned 3-point play in which he pumped fake several times before scoring and drawing the foul.

His free throw gave the Aggies a 61-52 lead with 3:25. The Hawks never got any closer than six the rest of the way.

“When ever you can steal one on the road like we did today, you position yourself for a good seed in the tournament,’’ said Eaves. “If we keep up our intensity on the road and if we can continue play well at home, we’ll be Ok.”

The Hawks fell to 3-19 overall and 0-10 in the conference. Ed Tyson was the only Hawk to reach double figures, he had 20 points on 6-for-13 shooting from 3-point range.