N.C. A&T Alumni Times

North Carolina A&T’s first three men’s basketball Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference games are on the road when 2019 arrives. Therefore, head coach Jay Joyner was eager to face the Tennessee State Tigers Saturday at Gentry Complex because the matchup would tell him a lot about his team’s DNA being that TSU is similar to the teams the Aggies will face in conference play.

In the shadows of the Aggies football team winning their third HBCU national title in four years, the Joyner’s N.C. A&T men got perhaps one of their biggest wins of the young season with a 78-76 road win.

Two Aggies had career games. Senior Milik Gantz finished with a career-best 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting from the field. Junior guard Qua Copeland finished with a career-high 25 points on 10-for-17 shooting. Sophomore point guard Kameron Langley came off the bench to score 10 points and dish out nine assists. Graduate center Ibrahim Sylla also came off the bench. He finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

It was an excellent game with 10 lead changes and five ties. Over the final 10 minutes of the game, the largest lead between the two teams was TSU’s 64-59 lead with 7:26 to play. The Aggies (4-6) quickly erased that with a 6-0 run capped off by two Langley free throws. The Tigers (3-6) and the Aggies tied for the fourth time in the game when TSU’s Donte Fitzpatrick-Dorsey hit two free throws make it a 71-71 ballgame with 2:29 to play.

Sylla gave the Aggies the lead back with a jump shot before Armani Chaney nailed a 3-pointer to put the Tigers ahead 74-73 with 1:18 remaining. It was Sylla who once again helped the Aggies recapture the lead. His bucket in the paint put the Aggies ahead one with a minute to play.

Two Stokley Chaffee, Jr., free throws kept the back-and-forth tilt going as the Tigers took the lead back at 76-75. But with 25 seconds to play, Langley put the Aggies in front for good as he went to the basket and scored for a 77-76 lead. TSU tried to answer, but Chaney’s jump shot misfired leading to a Gantz rebound with eight seconds remaining.

The Aggies now have a two-game road winning streak after beating Mount St. Mary’s on Nov. 21.

“Maybe we’re one of those teams that play better on the road,” said Joyner. “I hope that’s not the case. We need to win at home, and we need to play well in front of our fans. But we are able to win a few on the road too, that’s not a bad thing.”

N.C. A&T even got off to a great start away from home. Gantz hit two threes and graduate forward Terry Harris hit another in the first three minutes of the game as the Aggies took a 13-2 lead. The Aggies maintained a good lead throughout the first half and still led by nine, 35-26, with 5:17 remaining in the first half. But Davis Tripp had six points during an 11-2 Tiger run to tie the game at 37 with 1:37 remaining in the half.

A Langley jumper gave the Aggies the lead back, but a Fitzpatrick-Dorsey layup tied the game at 39 going into the half. Fitzpatrick-Dorsey led the Tigers with 23.

N.C. A&T’s next four games are on the road starting with No. 13 Virginia Tech 7 p.m., Wednesday, December 19 in Blacksburg, Va. The Aggies will then play at Minnesota (Dec. 21), at East Carolina (Dec. 28) and open conference play at S.C. State (Jan. 5).