Coleman records five blocks

Box Score
GREENSBORO, February 9, 2009 – It didn’t happen the way North Carolina A&T men’s basketball coach Jerry Eaves wanted it to happen, but he will gladly take the result.

The Aggies got 15 points apiece from seniors Ed Jones and Nick Wilson to earn a crucial 61-56 win over Bethune-Cookman Monday night at Corbett Sports Center. Wilson added nine rebounds and Thomas Coleman had five blocks. N.C. A&T (11-13, 5-5 MEAC) now finds itself in four-way tie for third place after being just 2-5 in the conference last week.

“We had to get to 5-5 in the conference. It was important for us,’’ said Eaves. “Bethune has been playing super on the road, so I was happy to get the win because it was not a good performance. We didn’t play to the level that Aggies should play. But this is a great group of young men. They work hard and that’s part of the reason we were able to get this win. We’re going to back and look at the film, so can continue to get better.”

N.C. A&T began widening its lead with approximately six minutes to play. A turnaround jumper in the lane by Robert Johnson gave the Aggies a 50-47 lead. Two minutes later Jones grabbed a Tavarus Alston miss and put it back. Jones was fouled on the play and completed a 3-point play for a 53-47 lead with 4:20 to play. But part of Eaves’ displeasure with his team was due to the numerous free throws the Aggies missed down the stretch.

The Aggies were just 7-for-14 at the free throw line in the final seven minutes of the game. It allowed the Wildcats to stay close. A Tobias Mahone 3-pointer pulled the Wildcats to within four at 58-54 with 1:16 remaining. Mahone’s three followed two missed free throws by Coleman that would have given the Aggies a nine-point lead.

“We’re going to keep working on our free throws on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s,’’ said Eaves. “We do quite a bit of that on those two days. We’ll just have to continue to grow our confidence and our concentration. It’s not so much practice. It’s about not playing to the level you expect yourself to play. We have to start to learn how to play a full 40 minutes, and if we do that then we’ll hit free throws in the clutch.”

As it turned out, the Wildcats could not take advantage of the Aggies generosity at the free throw line. Bethune-Cookman’s C.J. Reed turned the ball over with 56 seconds remaining. After Coleman missed two more free throws, the Wildcats had trouble finding their shooters – Jarrell Thomas and Reed.

Instead, Elliott Stanley launched a jumper just inside the 3-point line that hit off of the back of the rim. Thomas grabbed the offensive rebound, but could not grip the handle, giving the Aggies the ball back with 25 seconds remaining. Freshman Marc Hill went to the line and corrected the Aggies free throw transgressions of the past by knocking down two free throws to seal the win for the Aggies.

The Aggies are now a game behind second-place Bethune-Cookman (12-12, 6-4). But they go on the road for their next two games. They play Maryland-Eastern Shore on Feb. 14 before playing Delaware State on ESPNU on the 16^th.

“We’re looking forward to these two road games,’’ said Eaves. “It is going to be homecoming at Maryland-Eastern Shore, so the gym is going to be packed and they are going to be pumped up. If we can play well there, we’ve got four straight home games waiting for us.”