Nelson is shooting 87.5 percent from the floor in his last two games

Box Score
GREENSBORO, November 28, 2006 – North Carolina A&T’s men’s basketball team went into Tuesday night’s game with Longwood without leading scorer Steven Rush, so head coach Jerry Eaves decided to show off his depth.

It’s always a nice luxury when one of those bench players includes a preseason first-team All-MEAC player in Jason Wills and a three-year starter in Greg Roberts. But it was backup point guard Glenn Nelson’s two crucial 3-pointers down the stretch, his 5-for-5 shooting from the field and his 14 points that geared the Aggies to a 71-59 win over Longwood in front of 3,716 at Corbett Sports Center.

The Aggies (2-4) have won two in a row, and they have two November wins for the first time since 1990.  

Wills added 13 points and Roberts had nine off the bench as the Aggies outscored the Lancers 38-13 in bench points. Starter Austin Ewing had 13.

"We did not expect a drop off without Rush,’’ said Eaves, whose bench outscored his starters. We have a very, very deep bench, so stepping up when someone is down is what they are supposed to do. It’s something that surprises us.”

Two-and-half minutes into the second half; Ewing’s 3-pointer gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the game at 40-29. Over the next six minutes, the Lancers would work on cutting into the Aggies lead. By the 11:10 mark, two Brandon Giles free throws had the Lancers (3-4) within two at 47-45.

On five different occasions over the next 4 ½ minutes the Lancers had a chance to either tie the game or take the lead. Those chances stopped when Nelson knocked down an open three from the top of the key with 6:29 to play to give the Aggies a 58-53 lead.

The Lancers didn’t answer over the next two minutes, giving the Aggies an opportunity widen the gap with a Ewing 3-pointer from the corner with 4:23 remaining. “Those were two huge shots,’’ said Eaves. “Those are the type of shots we hit when we run our offense with precision.”

Longwood was able to reduce the Aggies lead to five with 2:08 remaining, but Nelson ended any hope of a Lancers rally with another 3-pointer with 1:52 to play. Nelson is a combined 14-for-16 from the floor in his last two games and is averaging 18.0 points in his last two outings.

“We brought Glenn Nelson in here to be a starter, and he is starting to play that way,’’ said Eaves about the junior college transfer out Cecil. “He’s doing things we expected him to do when we brought him in here. We’re going to need everyone doing the things we expect of them – that’s how we’re going to finish ball games like we finished this one tonight – with our depth.”

The Aggies, who are shooting 51.7 percent from the floor in their last two games, will go on the road to face their first conference foe of the season in S.C. State on Saturday. Game time is 4 p.m.