NCCU Beats Archrival NC A&T for MEAC Regular-Season Crown

DURHAM – The North Carolina Central Eagles played their archrival, the North Carolina A&T Aggies, Thursday Night,  Mar. 5, at McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium with the MEAC Regular-Season Championship on the line.

Thanks to NCCU junior guard  C.J. Keyser, who 20 points; and senior forward Jibri Blount and sophomore guard Nicolas Fennell who added 19 points each, the Eagles emerged with an 86-80 victory over their arch-rivals and won the 2019-20 MEAC Regular-Season Championship.

Much like the last three contests, it was a tight one. Both teams had a dozen lead changes and tied five times.

Aggie (16-15 overall, 12-4 MEAC) guard Tyler Maye led NC A&T with 19 points, while fellow guard Kameron Langley had 18 points. A&T’s biggest lead was by 13 points with 10:53 in the 1st half when they led 27-14.

“It’s always a good feeling to beat A&T,” said NCCU head coach LeVelle Moton. “It means the world to us that we put in this work.”

The Eagles closed (17-13 overall, 13-3 MEAC)  the first half on an eight-point scoring run and led 40-39 at the half.

“It’s all about how you respond,” Moton said. “We knew we were going to get battle-tested and A&T was going to give us our best shot.”

Later in the game, Redshirt Junior CJ Keyser converted five free throws to help seal the victory.

“We had a tough game a couple of games ago against them,” Keyser said. “I had to step up and I knew I wanted to work on my free throws for us to come with a win.”

NCA&T previously defeated NCCU by the score of 77-60 at the Corbett Sports Center in Greensboro,  Monday, Feb. 17. It was one of three defeats in the MEAC for the Eagles, who have also lost to Florida A&M and Delaware State.

What’s Next

Both teams will participate in next week’s MEAC Tournament,  The Scope Arena in Norfolk, Va., from Mar. 10-14. The first game for first-seed Eagles is Wednesday, Mar. 11, at 6 p.m; and the second-seed Aggies play afterward at 8 p.m.

(Feature image courtesy of Landon Bost)