| Senior forward Bruce Beckford will get to brag a little when he visits his pals on the other end of Market Street this summer after the Aggies defeated UNC Greensboro for the fourth straight time thanks to a 77-68 win at Corbett Sports Center. It was the first meeting between the two teams at Corbett since the Aggies defeated the Spartans 91-75 on Jan. 24, 1990. The other 15 games in the series have been played at the Greensboro Coliseum. The win also marked the Aggies second straight after losing their first seven.
“I would love to come back and see UNCG playing in Corbett every other year,” said Beckford, who finished with 21 points and six rebounds on 7-for-11 shooting.
Three other Aggies scored in double figures as sophomore guard Sam Hunt finished with 20 on 4-for-8 shooting from 3-point range. Graduate guard Joshea Singleton had 16 thanks to his ability to get to the basket, and senior guard Ahmad Abdullah finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. The Aggies shot a season-high 55.3 percent from the floor.
“I enjoy playing UNCG. I’m a fan of (UNCG head coach) Wes Miller,” said N.C. A&T head coach Cy Alexander. “He and I have a great relationship. He’s a good friend. I think he is a fine young coach. I’ve won my first two contests against him, but these things have a way of going in different directions. It’s a great rivalry within the city of Greensboro. His kids play over here in the summer, and our kids play over there in the summer. They will be buddies again tomorrow.”
The Aggies have enjoyed double-digit wins in their previous contests against UNCG (3-4). Wednesday’s game looked headed in that direction again after two Abdullah free throws gave the Aggies a 42-22 lead with 2:26 remaining. N.C. A&T carried a 44-29 lead into halftime. But the Spartans were resilient in the second half.
Behind the strong perimeter shooting of Francis Alonso who had 25 points on 7-for-13 shooting from 3-point range and the low post play of R.J. White, the Spartans were able to get the Aggies lead under double-figures a few times in the second half. In fact, White scored the Spartans first three baskets in the second half to cut the Aggies halftime lead down to nine, 44-35.
Hunt ended the run by slicing to the basket for a layup at the 17:26 mark. The Spartans were not able to get the lead under double figures again until Diante Baldwin's 3-pointer cut N.C. A&T’s lead to 57-48 with 9:19 to play. Again the Aggies had an answer as Singleton penetrated through the Spartans zone for back-to-back layups to put the Aggies ahead 13.
“Basketball is a game of runs,” said Alexander. “We knew his kids were going to keep playing hard. We had a run that gave us a big cushion in the first half. Then they had a run. But because we had a good cushion we still had a nine or 10-point lead.”
UNCG’s last best effort came with a little less than three minutes remaining as Alonso popped off a screen and knocked down a three to cut N.C. A&T’s lead to eight at 65-57. After a Singleton free throw, Asad Lamot hit a corner three to put the Spartans down just two possessions at 66-60 with 2:21 to play.
But the Spartans had trouble stopping Singleton from getting to the basket all night as his hop step move led to another layup that put the Aggies ahead eight. Hunt then sealed the win by making four straight free throws.
White added 15 points and six rebounds for the Spartans.
“I think it’s good for our community to have this game,” said Miller. “There are five Division I programs within 30 miles of each other if you include Wake Forest, Elon and High Point. We play all of them this year, and I think that is something we all should do to get more interest locally in college basketball.” |
