North Carolina Central 69, Norfolk State 63
DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University trailed Norfolk State by as many as 15 points in the second half and didn’t have a lead in the game until the final 2:42, but that was all the Eagles needed to upend the Spartans, 69-63 on Monday, Feb. 3 inside McDougald-McLendon Arena.
15 points is the largest deficit NCCU (10-12, 6-2 MEAC) has overcome in the Division I era, passing a 13-point comeback against Morgan State for a 53-52 win on Jan. 27, 2014. This is also the largest comeback for the Eagles since they defeated NSU (10-13, 6-2 MEAC), 50-47, in the 2019 MEAC Tournament championship game after a 12-point deficit.
NSU and NCCU stayed within striking distance of each other early in the contest with the Eagles working to tie the game on four separate occasions, but the Spartans wouldn’t let the hosts get in front. NSU led by as many as 10 in the first half, but the Eagles were able to put together a 6-0 run at the tail end of the half to go to the break trailing, 38-32.
The Spartans seized control of the second half right at the start with a 13-4 run after the intermission to build a 15-point lead at 51-36. The Eagles refused to relent and locked in defensively to stifle a red-hot Spartan team. NCCU put together a 16-0 run over eight minutes in the second half to pull ahead by six, 65-59, with 1:45 to go. NSU shot 60.9 percent in the first half, but during that drought, the Eagles forced the Spartans to go 0-9 from the floor, and 0-3 from the perimeter.
Coppin State 64, Howard 56
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Four Eagles finished in double figures as the Coppin State men’s basketball team held on for a 64-56 MEAC victory over Howard on Monday night at Burr Gymnasium.
Inside the Numbers
Koby Thomas led Coppin with 16 points and eight rebounds while Brendan Medley-Bacon recorded his third double-double of the season with 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go with 12 rebounds.
Andrew Robinson made three 3-pointers to finish with 12 points and Dejuan Clayton added ten points with five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Ibn Williams chipped in with six points and, five assists and three steals and Reggie James added five more.
CSU outshot Howard, 46.8% to 35.5% and held a 40-31 rebounding advantage.
Coppin let Howard climb back into the game as the Eagles made just 14-of-29 free throws (8-of-20 in the second half) and committed 11 second-half turnovers.
Maryland Eastern Shore 68, Delaware State 66
DOVER, Delaware — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men’s basketball team got an emotional 68-66 win on Monday evening (Feb. 3) against their Route 13 rival, the Delaware State University Hornets. The Hawks got their first road win of the season on Monday night.
“This has been a tough year at times, but I just always want to push these guys regardless of what people think about us,” Hawks coach Jason Crafton said. “So, we wanted to take every opportunity in a local rivalry game to have as much energy and passion and be the tougher team and I was proud that we were.”
The first half saw both teams take turns going on scoring runs and trade the lead three times. Freshman Da’Shawn Phillip (Baltimore, Maryland) scored the game’s first five points. The Hornets would respond by scoring the next 10.
Eastern Shore would enjoy their longest run during the middle of the half when they went on a 12-3 burst catapulted by three consecutive shots from downtown to take a 21-18 lead with 11:27 left before halftime. DSU would outscore the Hawks 22-15 for the remainder of the half to take a 40-36 lead into the locker room.
Redshirt senior Ahmad Frost (Cincinnati, Ohio) began the squad’s surge after the break. After scoring just three points in the first half, he scored 10 points in the opening 11 minutes of the second half. His bucket at the 8:42 mark gave the Hawks a 55-54 advantage.
When play resumed after the under 8:00 media timeout, the game was tied at 55. Senior Gabriel Gyamfi (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) got a fast-break dunk off a feed from Frost with 6:51 left. That began an 8-1 run for Maryland Eastern Shore to give them a 63-56 lead with 3:47 remaining.
DSU would go on an 8-0 run to take a 64-63 lead at the 1:49 mark. That set the stage for the contest to have three lead changes in the final two minutes.
Senior AJ Cheeseman (Snellville, Georgia) made a layup off a feed from Phillip to make the score 65-64 with 1:32 left. Delaware State retook a 66-65 lead on the ensuing possession. Gyamfi missed a 3-pointer on the next possession, but the Hornets could not take advantage and missed a jumper after that.
Courtesy: MEAC
