WASHINGTON, D.C. – When the Hampton University men’s basketball team defeated American 61-48 on Tuesday evening in Bender Arena, it gave head coach Edward Joyner Jr. the 100th win of his career.
Joyner, who has won two MEAC titles at Hampton, is now 100-97 in six-plus seasons.
The Pirates (1-1) got 19 points from senior guard Reginald Johnson, who went 7-for-17 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the free throw line. Senior forward Jervon Pressley added a season-high 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting, while Quinton Chievous finished one point shy of yet another double-double with nine points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Hampton shot 46.9 percent (23-for-49) from the floor and made 13 of its 19 free throws (68.4 percent). Both teams grabbed 29 rebounds, and the Pirates scored 20 points off of 16 American turnovers.
The Pirates also led 12-6 in second-chance points.
Most of the Pirates’ damage on offense came in the second half; after 20 minutes of play, American held a 23-21 lead and the Pirates had shot just 36.0 percent (9-for-25) from the floor.
In fact, Hampton never led in the first half; Dionte Adams tied the game at 8-8 with a jumper at the 7:54 mark, before the Eagles went on a 9-2 run to take a 17-10 lead after a basket from Delante Jones. But Hampton went on a 7-2 run of its own, cutting the lead to 19-17 after an Akim Mitchell layup.
A 3-point play from Kalin Fisher tied the game at 21-21 with 1:03 left in the half.
But Alex Paquin gave American a 23-21 halftime lead with a layup with 36 seconds left.
Hampton responded after the intermission by opening the second half on a 16-2 run, taking a 37-25 lead with 14:53 remaining after a layup from Chievous. Pressley later added a jumper at the 11:38 mark that put the Pirates ahead 42-29.
But the Eagles responded by scoring the next nine points, cutting the lead to 42-38 after a Paris Maragkos jumper with 8:46 left to play. An 8-0 Pirates run followed, and the lead ballooned to 50-38 after a free throw from Johnson at the 4:53 mark.
Another American run followed; the Eagles used an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 50-46 with 1:12 to play after a layup from Jesse Reed. Hampton called timeout following that basket, and a 3-point play from Johnson was the first score after the break.
That basket kicked off a game-ending 11-2 run for the Pirates.
Adams brought the game to its final margin with a fastbreak layup with four seconds remaining.
Hampton shot 58.3 percent (14-for-24) from the floor in the second half, while also going 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) from the line in that timeframe.
Fourteen of Johnson’s 19 points came after halftime.
American (0-2) shot 40.8 percent (20-for-49) from the floor and made just three of its 12 3-pointers.
Maragkos and Reed each had 12 points to lead the Eagles.
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