MEAC Tournament: Aggie men vs . Howard

[thefriscotxaggie]

I can tell you how they did it -- 3-11 behind the arc. Not a lot of wasted possions and forced threes. Combine that with only 6 turnovers and you have a victory. Good job Aggies and Coach Eaves.

I am telling you the radio broadcast was like Eaves was micked up. This game was well Coched because we really did not shoot the ball well according to the box.

[oleschoolaggie]

didn't see nor hear the game, so i don't know how we played. but i'm just glad we won. don't care how we did it, just glad we won...

[pj]

My laptop crashed...I restored it.

The Aggies may have found something. They were attacking the basket. Eaves wanted them to attack the backet. The slow start was because we missed some shots the we normally make. T Alston had 2 or 3 of his runners roll off the rim. Jared williams started. We ust clawed & clawed & clawed. We did not throw the ball away but we missed a lot of FT's early. We were gaining via getting them in foul trouble. Porter made the difference. He wheeled to the basket and used his right hand on a move. He got them into foul trouble and he along with Coleman were blocking shots right and left. Coleman actually did a Bill Russell type block where he controled it & passed it down the floor.

Nick Simpson started to go to the hoop. He really has a nice stroke
Porter had 12pts & 6 REB
Coleman 14REB 2 BLKS & 9pts.
All of our big men points were inside & via FT's. They could not match up with us. I dont know if the light has come on for the Aggies, but they played a good game tonight. Good win Aggies.

[DECKS]

Maybe the light bulb finally clicked on!! We only took 11 three pointers and made 26/39 free throws!! I honestly don't care that we won. I'm just happy to see us play common sense basketball for a change.

[Brandmasta]

I care that we won! And I think we can beat Morgan if we just play 40 minutes of basketball. We had 'em, but we let em off the hook! THE BEARS ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!!!!

[pj]

Last nite Porter was set up nicely at times. All he needed was one bounce of the ball ( which scares me) and he was at the rack. I dont think that we use the pick and roll enough, whenever we have the big man up top. Maybe one thinks that they will pick up an offensive foul or something. But the problem is that some of the other guys dont rebound enough out of that set.

Eaves did play Porter & Coleman together at times. Upchurch got some run also. D Joshua played a quiet game and he did not take any bad shots and he went to the rack a few times.

Morgan will have their hands full with our inside game. We did not beat ourselves last night.

[pj]

We gave Morgan a lot to think about with our inside game. Thompson had 3 fouls in Corbett & 4 fouls in B'more. We need to go right at him tonight. They know that we will shoot 3's and they will need to cover us. We had a balance last night. ( that is what the posters on this board have been saying all season).

I think that we have Morgan's number tonight.

[Bornthrilla]

AGGIES ADVANCE WITH FT SHOOTING


WINSTON-SALEM – The North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team utilized something it had not utilized in its first two meetings against Howard.

Aggressiveness.

The Aggies went to the free throw line 39 times. They went a combined 31 times in the previous two meetings. That coupled with strong bench play from sophomore Nic Simpson and redshirt senior James Porter led the Aggies to a 65-55 win over the Bison in a play-in round game at the 2010 MEAC Tournament played at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday.

The win puts the Aggies in the quarterfinal round against top-seed Morgan State Wednesday night at 7. N.C. A&T also avoided its first three-game sweep by Howard in more than 30 years. Simpson led the Aggies with 21 points off the bench. Porter added 12 points and six rebounds in a reserve role.

“We really attacked that basket tonight,’’ said Eaves, who led the Aggies to their first MEAC Tournament win since beating Norfolk State 81-66 in 2007. “In our first two games against them we were very lethargic. Tonight, we played like we had our backs against the wall, and that’s how you need to play in a tournament like this.”

The Aggies regular season did not end on a happy note. N.C. A&T lost its final four games. In three of those games, the Aggies held double-digit leads in the second half. The lead wasn’t exactly double figures at the 8:12 mark, but they were ahead 48-39.

An old familiar feeling seemed to be creeping up as Mike Phillips scored off of an Aggies turnover. The Bison’s Kandi Mukole followed with two free throws, and Paul Kirkpatrick’s spin move pulled the Bison to within three at 48-45 with 6:06 remaining.

Eaves called a well-timed timeout. Porter, who played a major role in making sure the Aggies went to the free throw line by going 11 times on his own, answered the Bison challenge by coming out of the timeout and converting a 3-point play to give the Aggies a 51-45 lead. Porter’s layup and free throw sparked an 8-0 run that gave the Aggies a double-digit lead at 56-45 with 1:53 to play.

“My mindset coming into this game was do or die,’’ said Simpson. “We don’t want the season to be over. I wasn’t going to accept it.”

If the Aggies are able to upset Morgan State, they will get Thursday off before playing in the semifinals at 6 p.m., on Friday. “To win a tournament, you have to play the very best,’’ said Eaves. “They have proven over the last few years that they are the best in our conference. You never want to avoid playing the best.”

[JeffAggieFan]

PJ,

I think we need to pressure the Point guard and force a lot of turnover tonight. Morgan has all the presure tonight and could play tight.

[Bornthrilla]

The Aggie fans need to come out in force tonight. The building was dead on Tuesday.

We will need a true home court advantage if we have any hopes of upsetting Morgan.

[Bornthrilla]

Reserves send Aggies to next round
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
(Updated 7:39 am)
By KEITH TOLBERT
Special to the News & Record


WINSTON-SALEM — Before the MEAC tournament began, N.C. A&T coach Jerry Eaves said there was no team in the conference that frightened him, but questioned whether his team could play a complete game that is required to advance in the tournament.

The Aggies proved they could do just that for at least one game as they used a 9-0 run in the second half to surge ahead and claim a 65-55 first-round win over Howard at Joel Coliseum. The reward for winning their first game in the tournament is a date with No. 1 seed Morgan State tonight at 7 p.m.

Nic Simpson had 21 points off the bench and James Porter, also coming off the bench, dropped in 12 points to help the Aggies to their first MEAC tournament win since 2007.

"It was the best team effort we've had in a long time," Eaves said. "We attacked the basket and got to the free throw line. That was the key to the game. We really stayed mentally tough. We had to contest the 3-pointers because they are a very good shooting team and we kept the pressure up."

With the score tied at 39-39 in the second half, Simpson scored five straight points to help the Aggies pull away to a 48-39 lead. They would not relinquish the lead again.

"We (the seniors) know that whatever game we lose next, is our last game," Porter said. "Every team in the MEAC is beatable. We just want to win games."

One big change for the Aggies: They won the turnover battle, committing only six while forcing 15 by the Bison. In addition, A&T stayed with the physical Bison on the glass, with both teams finishing with 39 rebounds. Thomas Coleman collected 14 of those boards for the Aggies.

Eaves knows that facing the regular-season champs in the next round won't be easy and will take an even better effort than his team gave on Tuesday night.

"You have to go through the best to win, but if you do you get a day off," Eaves said. "They are so consistent. They've beaten us twice this year, but we've had our opportunities. We've got to play our A-plus game."

The Aggies found themselves in an early 9-0 hole when they didn't score for almost five minutes to start the game. Tavarus Alston broke the ice for A&T, but the Aggies were struggling to find an offensive rhythm until Eaves started bringing players off the bench.

First Simpson provided a spark with a quick 3-pointer, then senior center Porter made an instant impact on both ends of the court. Before he entered the game, the Bison were having their way in the paint and had built a 21-12 lead.

"I just wanted to bring some energy and value the basketball," Simpson said. "I just wanted to get everyone involved."

After Porter came in, the Bison resorted to long-range jumpers and that worked for a while. Both Calvin Thompson and Curtis White hit from beyond the arc to help the Bison build a 24-14 lead.

But Eaves also brought in some quickness at guard with Marc Hill and Simpson helping to shut down the Howard perimeter game. The final 3 minutes belonged to Porter, Simpson and Hill. The trio combined for the Aggies' final eight points.

Porter did most of the damage around the basket and at the free throw line and helped A&T pull ahead 31-30.

Simpson had 10 points at the break and Porter chipped in eight points.

[Aggie One]

To tell you the honest truth, I am surprised we won because I didn't see any evidence of this occurrring after these last two weeks or that the team"s heart was in it anymore. Congrats on a nice win.

Now go on and make a liar out of me and pull the upset against Morgan.

[oleschoolaggie]

i'm just not gonna get my hopes up for an upset tonight. i've learned my lesson. every time we seemingly get it together and start doing some good things, we come right back and stink the joint up. i hope that's not the case tonight, but that's who our resume' says we are...

[thefriscotxaggie]

Yea even after wins were we shot less threes and won we have come right back the next game and have a three point festival. And if I were a betting man and I am; I bet Bozeman will pack in on a low zone and bait us into shooting threes.

I am not opposed to shooting a three but unless you are on fire a pull up three is a bad idea hopefully they will swing the ball, and drive to the basket as well as feed the post. It will take a well balance game to beat Morgan