Box Score
NEW ORLEANS, December 18, 2008 – In what had to be the North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team’s most disappointing outing of the season, Tulane got 12 points and 12 rebounds from Daniel Puckett to defeat the Aggies 81-55 at Fogleman Arena Thursday night.

The Aggies were led by Robert Johnson’s 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Tavarus Alston added 12 points on 4-for-10 shooting, the rest of their Aggie teammates were a combined 11-for-34 from the floor.

N.C. A&T did get eight blocks from sophomore forward Thomas Coleman. It marked the second time this season Coleman has recorded eight blocks. He has 27 for the season and 84 for his career, which means he is already more than halfway to breaking Jimmy Humphries’ all-time Aggies blocked shots record of 165.  

“Thomas is just a tremendous defensive player with great timing and instincts,’’ said Eaves. “We will eventually get him involved more offensively, but for now he does a great job of controlling the game from a defensive standpoint.”

The Aggies came into the game hoping to take advantage of a Tulane team that had struggled in its previous two outings. Instead, they ran into an inspired Green Wave team that out-rebounded the Aggies 42-32.

“We played poorly tonight,’’ said head coach Jerry Eaves. “There is not much more to say than that. We didn’t come out ready to play tonight, and you simply can’t do that when you’re playing on the road against a quality opponent. We’ll fix things and get going again.”

The Aggies dropped to 5-5 on the season with all five losses coming on the road. The Green Wave took advantage of the home court. It trailed just once in the game, which occurred in the first 2 ½ minutes. With the contest tied at 7, Tulane ran off a 14-2 spurt behind five points from junior guard Kevin Sims and a three-pointer by Puckett. 

By the time Brock Moorman sank a jumper at the 11:22 mark to end the run; the Aggies were down 21-11. Including Moorman’s jumper, N.C. A&T managed to connect on just three field goals during the final 11 minutes of the first half. The Green Wave used the Aggies cold shooting to build a 17-point lead, its largest advantage in the opening period, on two occasions. Tulane led 38-23 at intermission.

The Aggies made their final run early in the second half when they opened the half with a 12-6 run to pull to within nine points at 44-35 on a Kam Shepherd lay-up with 15:32 remaining. 

Tulane sophomore Johnny Mayhane immediately responded with a jumper for the Green Wave and Louisme answered with 10 points during a 13-2 run that gave Tulane a 20-point cushion with 10:09 remaining. N.C. A&T was never able to get any closer than 17 points the rest of the way.

The Aggies return to action Saturday, Dec. 20 when they travel to Evansville, Ind., to take on Evansville University. Game time is 8:05 p.m., eastern time.