Aggies defeat Bulldogs for the first time under Eaves

Box Score               Postgame Quotes
GREENSBORO, January 28, 2008 – North Carolina A&T men’s basketball coach Jerry Eaves is not so that concerned about streaks or the last time the Aggies did this or that, but he is interested in what is going on with the MEAC standings.

Eaves and the Aggies won their fifth straight game with an 82-77 win over S.C. State Monday night at Irvin-Corbett Court. The Aggies improved to 10-9 overall and 4-2 in the MEAC. They are .500 this late in the season for the first time since 2001. Losses by Hampton and Delaware State moved the Aggies in the thick of the conference race for first place.

“We do look at the standings,’’ said Eaves. “We said that we didn’t want the weekend to go by beating Winston-Salem and not beating South Carolina State. We would have received an “F” for the weekend if that had of happened.”

Steven Rush and Austin Ewing led the Aggies with 20 points apiece. Ed Jones chipped in with 12 points off the bench. Similar to their win over Winston-Salem State on Saturday, the Aggies got off to a good start. Rush and Robert Johnson hit back-to-back shots to give the Aggies a 28-17 lead at the 7:02 mark of the first half.

A 12-3 run capped by a Ewing layup gave the Aggies a 40-23 halftime lead, marking the second straight game the Aggies walked into the locker room at the half with a lead in the teens.

But the Bulldogs came after the Aggies lead led by Jessie Burton, who finished the game with 22 points on 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range. Burton’s three cut the Aggies lead to nine, 48-39, three minutes into the second half. The lead dwindled to four 48-44 on a Carrio Bennett follow-up of an Everett Spencer miss.

But the Bulldogs couldn’t close the deal as Burton fouled Ewing shooting a 3-pointer. Ewing hit two of the three free throws to give the Aggies a 50-44 lead with 15:28 to play. After a Burton offensive foul, Ewing found freshman center Thomas Coleman going toward the basket for a layup. When Ewing dropped a 3-pointer, the Aggies had their double-figure lead back at 55-44 with 14:20 to play.

The Bulldogs were not deterred, however. Trailing by 15 as late as the 4:40 mark of the second half, the Bulldogs made a furious run. Threes by Spencer and Burton highlighted an 11-0 Bulldogs run to cut the Aggies lead to 77-73 with 1:57 to play.

“In the beginning of the game we get a little ahead of ourselves and we don’t come out in the second half and perform like we’re supposed to,’’ said Ewing. “It’s frustrating to us because we know to win the MEAC we are going to have to put two halves together.”

After an Aggies turnover, the Bulldogs had a chance to slice the Aggies lead even more, but Bennett fumbled the ball out of bounds to give the Aggies the ball back with 1:18 to play. Rush, who was 10-for-10 from the free throw line, knocked down two key free throws to help the Aggies seal the win.

“This win was huge,’’ said Eaves. “We have two more home games in this stretch and we need them both. We have a road stretch where we have Florida A&M and (Bethune-Cookman) and that’s’ going to be tough because we’ve never defeated Bethune-Cookman down there. Things are getting tight so we have to come prepared to play every night.”

There are three teams in the conference with one loss and two teams with two losses. Over the next week-and-half those one loss and two loss teams play one another. The Aggies continue their four-game homestand Saturday afternoon at 4 when they face Howard. They conclude the homestand with a television game against Hampton on Feb. 4, which starts at 9 p.m.