Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 16, 2008 – North Carolina A&T men’s basketball guard Austin Ewing walked into the media room and told teammate Jason Wills: “If you keep playing like that, we’re going to win a championship.”

Ewing’s comment is pretty much the sentiment around East Market Street. The determining factor on whether the Aggies win MEAC championship No. 17 could rest on the veteran shoulders of Wills. Wills broke out of a slump by scoring 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds in the Aggies 95-85 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore Saturday afternoon at Irvin-Corbett Court.

“I haven’t been playing well lately, so it was big for me to play like I did tonight,’’ said Wills, who was 8-for-8 from the field in the second half. “I’ve been here four years and we finally have a chance to win, so I can’t let my teammates down by not playing up to my potential.”

Wills was honored Saturday along with six other seniors on Senior Night. The Aggies celebrated Senior Night early because the finally home game at home this season falls on N.C. A&T’s spring break. Wills was honored for scoring more than 1,000 points, grabbing more than 600 rebounds and dishing out more than 200 assists in his career – the first player to do so in more than 40 years.

But before Saturday Wills was averaging just 6.6 points on 37.1 percent shooting from the floor over his last five games. One of those games included a game in which he went scoreless for the first time in three years. But Wills became active from the start, which opened things up for the Aggie perimeter shooters.

The Aggies led 22-20 at the 10:09 mark of the first half, before the Aggie perimeter shooters started to break open the game. Glenn Nelson hit back-to-back threes and Austin Ewing capped off the Aggies 9-0 run with another three to give the Aggies a 31-20 lead. Four minutes later, Steven Rush took a pass from the post and hit another Aggies three to give the Aggies a 37-22 lead.

The Aggies took a 48-31 lead into the locker room and then turned the game over to Wills. Wills scored eight of the Aggies first 12 points in the second half. His soaring slam dunk at the 8:10 mark pushed the Aggies lead back to 17 after the Hawks cut the lead to 11. The Hawks kept fighting, however.

They cut the Aggies lead to seven, 88-81, on a Gary Lee 3-pointer with 2:33 remaining. Rush helped the Aggies put it away by grabbing a long rebound off a Ishmawiyl McFadden miss and turned into a fastbreak opportunity that ended with him finding Ewing on the break for a layup that gave the Aggies a 91-82 lead with 1:17 to play.

Ewing scored a career-high 22 points and Rush added 19 points and six assists. The Aggies shot a season-high 61.1 percent from the field and improved to 13-11 overall and 7-4 in the MEAC. The Aggies are now tied for fourth in the MEAC with their Monday-night opponent Delaware State. The game will air on ESPNU starting at 7 p.m., from Irvin-Corbett.

“The key to us winning a championship is strong play in the post,’’ said head coach Jerry Eaves. “Our perimeter people are some of the best shooters in the country. People play those young men very hard. The interior game from here on out is going to have to take control. People are so locked in to guarding Steven Rush and Austin Ewing; we’ve got to make people pay in the post.”