ST. LOUIS (February 4, 2017) – In what continues to be an interesting season that does not have a consistent theme as to why things are the way they are, the North Carolina A&T men's basketball team played another mid-major with scrappy aggressiveness before falling short as the St. Louis Billikens got hot late to defeat the Aggies 78-59 at Chaifetz Arena Saturday night.
The Aggies played the Billikens (8-15) tough for 30 minutes after five straight double-digit losses in conference play.
“I really couldn't chastise them too much tonight because I thought they played hard,” said N.C. A&T coach Jay Joyner. “That's what we're dealing with right now. We have been very inconsistent this season, so we don't know what we're going to get from game to game. Tonight we got good effort until our defense fell apart toward the end, giving them so open shots.”
Redshirt junior James Whitaker led the Aggies with 13 points off the bench. Graduate center Aaron Scales secured his second straight double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Scales is averaging 12.7 points and 10.0 rebounds over his last three games. Unfortunately for the Aggies, an opponent shot better than 50 percent for the third straight game.
“We have to become more discipline on the defensive end, and we have to take better care of the basketball. We're leaving shooters too soon, and we're not getting back and people are knocking down shots against us.”
That became a problem for the Aggies (1-22) at the end of the first half. After an Amari Hamilton 3-pointer cut the Billikens lead to 38-31 with 17 seconds remaining in the first half, Davell Roby snuck his way into the corner near the Aggies bench. By the time he was recognized, he was launching a 3-pointer that connected to give the Billikens 41-31 halftime lead and boost going into the locker room.
Mike Crawford used the momentum swing to give the Billikens a basket to open the second half. But SLU's good times didn't last long. Freshman Raymon Pratt hit a 3-pointer followed by leading scorer Sam Hunt scoring his first points of the game on a pullup jumper. Hunt cut the lead to six, 45-39, as Hamilton found him running out in transition for an open 3-pointer. Hamilton followed with another Aggies three to slice the Billikens lead to three.
SLU ended the run with a tip-in by Reggie Agbeko, but Hunt kept his strong second-half start going by netting another three off of a pass from Hamilton. Aaron Hines answered Hunt's 3-pointer before a double-clutch three from Hamilton got the lead back to two at 50-48 with 11:36 to play.
The Aggies stopped hitting shots and the Billikens could not stop hitting shots from there. SLU hit their next three shots capped by a steal and dunk from Agbeko to give the Billikens a 57-48 lead. With his foot on the 3-point arc, Donte Watson ended the 7-0 run with a jumper. But Roby benefited from the Aggies doubling Agbeko, as Agbeko pass the ball out of the double team to an open Roby for a 3-pointer and a 60-50 SLU lead with 8:25 remaining. The Aggies never got the lead under double figures again.
“We were right there,” said Joyner. “We were down two points. But we have to make better decisions with the ball and better decisions on defense when we have a chance to win. We will get better at that in this program.”
N.C. A&T cut the lead to two with 11:36 remaining. Over the next eight minutes, the Billikens went 7-for-10 from the floor.
In the heart of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, the Aggies will play their second straight game out of conference as they welcome in NAIA Allen University 7 p.m., Tuesday at Corbett Sports Center.
“We better be excited about playing because this is going to be their Super Bowl,” said Joyner.
