Box Score
PITTSBURGH, Pa., November 11, 2007 – There was no scoring drought for the North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team on Sunday. The Aggies scored and then scored some more as they downed Houston Baptist 96-71 on the third and final day of the 2007 Hispanic College Fund Foundation Basketball Challenge at Pittsburgh University’s Petersen Athletic Event Center.

Senior guard Austin Ewing and freshman center Thomas Coleman led the Aggies with 15 points apiece. Ewing also had a career-high eight assists, while Coleman added eight rebounds and three blocks.

It was the Aggies fifth time exceeding 90 points in the Jerry Eaves era with all four times have come in the last two seasons. November 11 is also the earliest date Eaves has earned a victory at N.C. A&T in five seasons there.

“We got out to a 31-6 lead and just kept applying the pressure,’’ said Eaves. “The team did an excellent job from the tip, which is the way we need to play throughout the season. We shot about 31 percent from three, which is still below our average, but we ran our offense effectively, so we still had a high shooting percentage overall.”

N.C. A&T went through scoring droughts during its first two games in Pittsburgh and shot a combined 35.8 percent from the floor. But on Sunday the Aggies shot 50.7 percent from the floor. They scored the first 14 points of the game and led by as many as 25 in the first half. Meanwhile, Houston Baptist shot just 25 percent in the first half and 16.7 percent from 3-point range.  

Coleman took over by scoring 11 of his 15 points in the first half. He also had four rebounds and two blocked shots in the first half. During the Aggies run to take a 31-6 lead, they shot 60 percent from the field and turned it over only twice in the first 11 ½ minutes of the game.

“Thomas Coleman played a tremendous game with his rebounding and blocked shots,’’ said Eaves. “He provides so much for us in the middle. As a team, we did an excellent job of defending and blocking shots.”

The Aggies had six players score in double figures. Trahern Chaplin and Nick Wilson had 12 points apiece, while Steven Rush and Angelo Hernandez had 11 points and five rebounds. The Aggies are 1-2 on the season, and will play their home opener on Wednesday when they face Anderson University at Corbett Sports Center, starting at 7 p.m.