Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C - Senior guard Rashad West scored a game-high 18 points to lift the Hampton University Pirates to a 68-52 victory over North Carolina A&T State University here on Monday in a key Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game that was televised live by ESPNU.
With the victory, Hampton improved to 7-1 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and 13-7 overall, while the Aggies of N.C. A&T fell to 11-10 overall and 5-3 in league play.
"Tonight, I thought that we executed our game plan and played great defense," said HU head coach Kevin Nickelberry. "We held their leading scorer, Steve Rush, to just seven points when he was averaging over 14 points a game."
The Pirates took the lead from the outset of the game and never looked back, jumping out to a 37-21 halftime lead.
In the second half, it seemed like things only got better for the Pirates as they shot 40 percent (10-of-25) and held the Aggies to 29 percent (8-of-27). Hampton went on the score 31 more points in the half, which proved to be more than enough for the Pirates to notch the win.
Hampton forced 20 Aggie turnovers on the night and held them to only 30 percent (15-of-50) from the floor and a season low 19 percent (4-of-21) from beyond the three-point arc. The Pirates shot 42 percent (23-of-54) from the floor on the night and 60 percent (15-of-25) from the charity stripe on the night.
Hampton finished the game with three players scoring in double figures. In addition to West's 18, Matthew Pilgrim scored 14 points and Vinnie Simpson had 13.
Austin Ewing and Thomas Coleman led the way for the Aggies, each scoring 10 points.
The Pirates will continue their road to Raleigh on Saturday as they prepare for game three of their four-game road journey. Next up is a date with Delaware State University in Dover, Del. This 4:05 p.m. game against the defending MEAC regular-season champions will be televised live on ESPN2.
For more information on HU Pirate basketball, go to
www.hamptonpirates.com or contact the HU Office of Sports Information at 757-727-5811.