Box Score



GREENSBORO, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com) – Behind two double-doubles from Dominique Sutton (Durham, N.C.) and Ray Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) along with a 14-2 second half spurt, the Eagles of North Carolina Central University took down arch-rival North Carolina A&T State University 71-66 inside the sold out Corbett Sports Center in Greensboro, N.C. on Saturday evening and earned the season sweep over the Aggies.
 
Meeting no. 139 between these two programs lived up to the billing as the contest featured eight ties and three lead changes with the Aggies coming out strong in front of the home faithful with a 10-4 advantage following a layup by Austin Witter with 16:50 remaining first half.
 
A 9-2 run by NCCU cut a 10-point deficit to three at 16-13 following an Emanuel Chapman (Raleigh, N.C.) three-point basket with 14:22 left in the first frame.
 
NCCU took the first lead of the day following a Ray Willis steal and breakaway dunk making it 19-18 with 11:32 to go.
 
A&T quickly answered with a 7-0 rally to take the lead back at 25-19 and held that lead for the remainder of the first half.
 
Trailing by seven at 39-32 with 2:26 to go after a Witter steal and Nic Simpson dunk, NCCU scored the final five points of the frame including a Jeremy Ingram three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the margin to two at 39-37 heading into the locker room.
 
The drama picked up in the final 20 minutes answers as the teams went back-and-forth in the early portion of the stanza.
 
Through the first seven minutes of the second half there were five ties, and with 12:02 to go a Simpson three-pointer put A&T ahead at 51-48, and that’s where the game turned.
 
Sutton’s layup with 11:12 left made it 51-50 in favor of NC A&T and on the following offensive possession for the Aggies, head coach Jerry Eaves received a technical foul that seemed to put a spark in the Eagles.
 
Willis hit both his foul shots to put NCCU ahead at 52-51.
 
After both teams traded possessions, A&T’s Witter shoved Sutton chasing after a loose ball and the officials charged Witter with a technical foul which got the sold out crowd fired up and turned the intensity on its head.
 
NCCU stretched the lead to 54-51 with 9:39 to go after Willis knocked down both free throws.
 
After Simpson air-balled a three-point attempt, Sutton grabbed a missed Ingram layup on the other end, putting it back up from point blank range and drawing a foul on R.J. Buck.  The basket counted putting NCCU up 56-51, but Sutton was charged with a technical foul for taunting to the disapproval of head coach LeVelle Moton.
 
With the A&T faithful revved up, Simpson, one of the top free throw shooters in the MEAC went on to miss both attempts.
 
On the ensuing Eagles possession, Willis drilled a dagger from the top of the key to put NCCU up eight at 59-51 with 8:37 left.
 
After a Marc Hill layup, senior Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.) stepped up for another huge three-pointer that put NCCU up 62-53 completing the 14-2 run that gave the maroon and gray all the momentum needed to pull out the win.
 
A&T continued to fight cutting the deficit to five on numerous occasions with the biggest coming after a DaMetrius Upchurch layup, which was immediately followed up by an Ingram three-pointer to push the lead back out to eight at 67-59 with 2:42 left.
 
With 2:06 left, the Eagles led 69-59 and the maroon and gray held on from there to finish out the game winning 71-66 to earn the season sweep over the Aggies.
 
Sutton finished the night with one of his best performances of the year with a double-double 24 points 11 rebounds, six assists, and zero turnovers.  The 6-5 forward has recorded seven double-doubles on the season.
 
Willis wasn’t far behind ending the night with his fourth double-double 15 points and 11 rebounds going six-for-six from the free throw line.
 
Stepping up once again off the bench Ingram ended the day with 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting from behind-the-arc.
 
NCCU (14-12 overall, 8-5 MEAC) has won two in-a-row and now sits in a tie for fifth place in the conference with Coppin State dropping a70-66 decision to Howard falling to 8-5 in the league.  CSU does hold the tiebreaker over NCCU with a 77-57 win back on Jan. 21.
 
NC A&T (11-17 overall, 6-7 MEAC) had three Aggies in double figures led by Adrian Powell’s 16 points and eight rebounds.  Hill finished with 13 points and dished out four assists, while Upchurch contributed 11 points and six rebounds in the loss.

With the win, the Eagles earned the first season sweep over the Aggies since the 1988-89 campaign when the maroon and gray won the NCAA Division II National Championship.
 
Moton and company step out of conference one final time on Wednesday, Feb. 22 in historic Assembly Hall as the Eagles will take on the no. 18/20 Hoosiers of Indiana University at 7:00 p.m.  NCCU is 0-2 all-time against IU.
 
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