NCCU Falls to Rival Aggies at Home

Durham, NC—North Carolina Central University lost a contest against their rival North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University at McDougald-McLendon Arena by a score of 79-63. NCCU entered the game looking to win their first contest since a 65-64 victory over South Carolina State on Tuesday, February 2, and continue their 18 game home winning streak. 

The Eagles stumbled out of the gate, falling behind to NC A&T by a score of 11-2 within the first four minutes of action. The Eagles answered with a pair of threes from junior guard Nicolas Fannell and senior guard Deven Palmer to close the gap at 11-8. Jordan Perkins dished one of his five first-half assists on the second of these three-pointers. Senior guard Deven Palmer led the Eagles in scoring with 19 points, seven rebounds, two blocks, and one steal.

NCCU had to immediately endure another Aggie surge as they would be outscored by a margin of 12-5 over the next three minutes to notch the score at 23-13 after eight minutes of play. 

The Eagles battled back behind nine first-half points by senior guard C.J. Keyser to secure a slim 30-29 lead with 2:58 remaining in the first half. Keyser is currently averaging 18.6 points per game in order to lead the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. C.J. Keyser finished the game with 11 points and one assist due to early foul trouble. The Eagles entered halftime trailing 37-34. 

In the second half, the Eagles soon found themselves trailing again after taking a 40-39 lead on a Jordan Perkins layup. The Aggies would proceed to go on a 16-4 scoring run bolstered by five points and one assist from the Aggies’ senior guard Kameron Langley in order to secure a 57-44 lead over the Eagles with 11:33 remaining in the contest. 

The Aggies continued interior success was due in no small part to their massive number of offensive rebounds. The Aggies outrebounded the Eagles 17-10 on the offensive glass. North Carolina Central Head Coach Levelle Moton lamented after the game saying “this is the worst rebounding team I’ve ever coached” and that “we’ve only worked on boxing out twice this year” due to Covid-19 complications. The Aggies scored 34 points in the paint during the contest. Coach Moton later commented that he believes the two ways to show him that you want to win are to play intense defense and rebound the ball but that his team “didn’t do either one” in the loss tonight. 

The Eagles’ Jordan Perkins and the Aggies’ Kameron Langley were battling to make plays all night long.

The Eagles’ Jordan Perkins would finish the game with six points, nine rebounds, seven assists, and one steal. 

The Aggies’ Kameron Langley would finish with 11 points, three rebounds, nine assists, and three steals. 

The Eagles offense was spreading the wealth all night with multiple players approaching double figures and some eclipsing the mark. Junior guards Jamir Moultrie and Nicolas Fannell each contributed nine points as well. 

After surrendering such a large lead the Eagles were not able to overcome the Aggies offensive attack, never cutting the lead to under 10 points through the end of regulation. The Eagles continued to commit turnovers down the stretch and allowed multiple second-chance opportunities to materialize for the opposition. They would fall by a final score of 79-63. 

NCCU (4-6, 2-3 MEAC) returns to action for an immediate rematch against North Carolina A&T (10-10, 6-1 MEAC) on Saturday, February 27 at the Corbett Sports Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.