HAMPTON USES POST PRESENCE TO SLOW DOWN AGGIES

HAMPTON, VA., January 30, 2006 -- Jason Wills scored from all over the floor on his way to a 31-point performance, but as the game wore on Hampton found one place on the floor it liked to score from -- in the paint.

Hampton got 34 points in the paint and continued its mastery of the North Carolina A&T's men's basketball team with a 77-65 win Monday night at the HU Convention Center. The loss drops the Aggies to 3-15 overall and 3-6 in the MEAC as their losing streak to the Pirates increased to 10.

"I love the way my kids compete,'' said N.C. A&T head Jerry Eaves. "To be short-handed and fight the way they fight, you just have to love coaching this team. I thought if we could have grabbed a few more rebounds of their misses late, we could have won this ball game."

"But I'm playing seven players a lot of minutes so we wore down and couldn't get to a few of those loose balls that would have made a difference."

The Aggies trailed by as many as 18 in the second in the half. But thanks to a 9-0 run, the Aggies were able to cut the Pirates lead to 68-59 with 5:34 remaining in the game. Jason Wills scored eight of the Aggies nine points during the run that ended when he intercepted a Rashad West pass and went the distance for a layup.

The Pirates, who grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and had a 27-14 advantage in second chance points began using second chances to put the game away. Jaz Cowan ended the Aggies with a follow up of a Jeff Granger miss. Jason Wills hit a short jumper in the middle of the lane to put the Aggies down nine again, 70-61 with 5:01 remaining.

But 6-foot-11 Bruce Brown scored close to the basket for the Pirates, Dewayne Spencer hit one of two free throws and Jeff Granger who had been hot from the perimeter all night hit another jump shot to put the Pirates up 14 with 3:19 to play.

"They were hot early from the outside and that put us in a hole,'' Eaves said. "You have to give them credit, they hit the open outside shot and we had a hard to recovering after that.."

Granger finished with 21 points for the Pirates and hit all five of his 3-pointers in the first half as he ignited a 16-7 Hampton run with a 3-pointer in the first half. The Pirates run put them up 35-25 with 5:05 remaining in the first half.

The Aggies will return to action on Thursday when they travel to Farmville, Va., to take on Division I independent Longwood. They return to conference action on Monday when they host Delaware State at 7:30 p.m.