NORFOLK, Va. – With a pair of late free throws, North Carolina Central defeated Howard 68-66 in first-round men’s action Tuesday night at the Norfolk Scope Arena.
The Eagles will face No. 2 seed Norfolk State in Wednesday’s quarterfinal at 8 p.m.
Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by Kyle Benton’s 15 points and 11 rebounds. Jeremiah Ingram added 10 rebounds. NCCU shot 39.0 percent (23-for-59) from the floor and made six of its 15 3-pointers (40.0 percent).
James Daniel III, the MEAC Player of the Year, led three Bison in double figures with 22 points. Marcel Boyd added 16 points and 18 rebounds, and Howard shot 44.8 percent (26-for-58) from the floor.
Morgan State 65, Maryland Eastern Shore 58
In a tight matchup befitting of their respective seeds, Morgan State topped UMES 65-58 on Tuesday afternoon.
The final seven-point margin was the largest lead of the game for the Bears (9-21). Altogether, the contest featured 15 lead changes and 12 ties, including 13 lead changes in the second half alone.
The victory advanced MSU to the quarterfinal round on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at top-seeded Hampton. UMES saw its season come to a close at 10-22.
Morgan State rallied early in the second half, erasing a six-point deficit and then taking the lead on Clive Vaughn’s fastbreak layup five and a half minutes into the stanza. The game see-sawed from there, with neither team going up by more than two until the 5:33 mark, when Devin Martin’s layup put UMES up 56-53.
The Hawks, though, turned it over on four straight possessions and went 1-of-5 from the field in the last five and a half minutes as Morgan State pulled ahead and eventually outscored UMES 12-2 to close out the game.
Phillip Carr tallied 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting to pace Morgan State. He was one of four players in double figures, with Donte Pretlow, Rasean Simpson and Cedric Blossom each tallying 14 points on the night. Pretlow also added seven assists with a single turnover, one of just seven for MSU in the game.
MEAC WOMEN’S RESULTS
Florida A&M 79, Delaware State 74
Khadejra Young scored a team-high 20 points to lead four players in double figures as Florida A&M pulled away to a 79-74 win over Delaware State in the first round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament at the Scope. The Lady Rattlers (16-14), the 7 Number seed will advance to the quarterfinals where they will face North Carolina A&T State, the Number 2 seed at 2 pm.
The game appeared as though it would be a rout when Florida A&M came out of the blocks with a 8-0 start and led 22-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Hornets (9-21), the Number 10, woke up on their doldrums on a 22-14 second quarter push that got them to within 36-32 at the intermission.
Delaware State scrapped its way back into the game in the third period on the scoring of Aliah Stinnett and Najai Pollard, using a 9-5 spurt to tie the game at 41 with 6:22 left in the third period.
London Holland responded with a three-point basket 18 seconds later that gave FAMU the lead for good.
The Rattlers would go on to score 14 more points to take a 55-49 lead at the end of three.
The lead expanded to double digits as the Lady Rattlers had five different players take turns scoring in the final stanza.
In addition to Young’s 20 points, Kenya Dixon had 18, Holland 13 and Dawn King 12.
Delaware State got a game-high 21 points from Najai Pollard to go along with her 14 rebounds and 12 from Nikkei Blackburn.
South Carolina State 61, Savannah State 53
It took an extra five minutes, but South Carolina State eliminated the defending MEAC Tournament champions on Tuesday, defeating Savannah State 61-53 in overtime in first-round women’s action.
The Bulldogs will face top seed Bethune-Cookman in Wednesday’s quarterfinal at 12 p.m.
The Tigers led 43-38 after three quarters, before S.C. State opened the fourth with a 10-3 run to take a 48-46 lead with 42 seconds remaining. But Tiyonda Davis scored on an in-bounds play with 17.5 seconds left to tie the game and force overtime.
S.C. State outscored Savannah State 13-5 in the overtime period.
Jasmine Coleman led three Bulldogs in double figures with 14 points; S.C. State shot 35.6 percent (21-for-59) from the floor and made five of 11 3-pointers.
Savannah State shot 38.9 percent (21-54) from the floor and held a 39-35 edge on the glass. Davis led the Tigers with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
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