KENNESAW, Ga. (December 22, 2016) – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team played their final game of the Gotham Classic with a 68-60 loss to Kennesaw State at the KSU Convocation Center on Thursday afternoon. It was a four-game classic that turned out to be both encouraging and frustrating at the same time. The Aggies went 0-4 with previous losses to UMass by six, Pacific by nine and Rider by one.
Even though the Aggies dropped to 1-11 on Thursday they showed improvements in the area of free throw shooting, turnovers and defense. The Aggies were shooting 57.6 percent from the foul line before the classic and shot 77.8 percent during the classic. The Aggies averaged 12.5 turnovers during the classic. In their previous eight games, the Aggies averaged 16.1 turnovers. Teams scored 73.9 points against N.C. A&T before Gotham and averaged 64.8 points during Gotham.
Despite the strides, second-year head coach Jay Joyner wants to translate those things to wins as the conference season approaches.
“We're in a tough spot right now obviously,” said Joyner. “We have to get to the point where we are more discipline, and we have to start doing a better job of executing the game plan. We didn't execute the game plan this afternoon.”
Thursday, the Aggies were hurt by a strong performance from KSU's Kendrick Ray who scored 34 points on 7-for-12 shooting from 3-point range. Despite Ray's hot shooting, the Aggies held the lead for the most part over the first 25 minutes of the game. Junior guard Eliel Gonzalez's 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining in the first half gave the Aggies a 29-24 lead. But Ray pulled up and hit a three at the buzzer to start his hot streak and send the Owls into the locker room down 29-27.
Nick Reese, who scored a career-high nine points, kept the Aggies in front 37-34 in the first five minutes of the second half. The Owls (4-9) would unleash Ray from there. Ray hit a three to tie the game before his two additional 3-pointers gave the Owls a 44-39 lead. The Aggies were able to cut it to one two Aaron Scales free throws to make it 51-50 with 7:09 to play.
Ray put the Owls ahead by four on a 3-pointer as he and Aggies guard Sam Hunt started an offensive duel. Hunt, who scored all 16 of his points in the second half, to put the Aggies down one at 54-53. After the Owls built their lead back to five, Hunt connected on another 3-pointer to cut the lead to 60-58 with four minutes to play.
The Aggies struggled to score from there. The Aggies went 1-for-7 from the floor over the final four minutes of the game. Meanwhile, the Owls put the game away with an 8-2 run. “We have to do a better job of playing team basketball,” said Joyner. We have to take the right shots at the right time. I thought we had moments today where we could have captured the momentum, but for some reason we would turn the ball over, take a bad shot or not execute. What we're going through right now is the epitome of growing pains.”
Gonzalez would aid the Aggies with 13 points. The Aggies close out 2016 with a game at Georgia Tech 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 28. The Aggies open the year against MEAC foe Hampton on January 4 in Hampton, Va., at 7 p.m.
