Box Score

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Hampton University men's basketball team stopped its two-game Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) skid on Monday night, beating North Carolina A&T 65-55 at the Corbett Sports Center.

The Pirates never trailed, and the Aggies never got any closer than eight points behind – trailing 61-53 with 32 seconds remaining, when Thomas Coleman slammed home a dunk. But the Pirates made all six free throws in the final 41 seconds to hold off the Aggies – Brandon Tunnell (Wilmington, Del.), Kwame Morgan and Darrion Pellum (Hampton, Va.) each icing the game in the closing seconds.

Hampton led by as many as 15 in the second half, when Pellum hit a jumper with 13:08 to play to put the Pirates up 51-36. North Carolina A&T responded with an 8-2 run to cut the score to 53-44 with 9:11 to play on a Tavarus Alston layup.

Morgan (Largo, Md.) led four Pirates in double figures with a season-high 13 points on 3-for-4 shooting from 3-point range. Michael Freeman (Alexandria, Va.) scored 11 points to go along with 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season, while Charles Funches (Bayonne, N.J.) and Pellum each added 10 points.

The Pirates shot 42.0 percent (21-for-50) from the floor, while also making 18 of their 22 free throws. Hampton also out-rebounded the Aggies 42-29.

The Pirates (5-12, 2-3 MEAC) also got 24 points from their bench.

Dwane Joshua led the Aggies with 18 points, while Coleman added 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds. Alston added 10 points for North Carolina A&T, which shot 19-for-53 (35.8 percent) from the floor and made just 11 of its 21 free throws.

The Pirates took a 39-28 lead into the half after jumping out to an early 6-2 lead at the 15:30 mark. The Aggies (5-13, 1-4 MEAC) cut the lead to one, 8-7, when Coleman slammed home a dunk at the 13:54 mark, but that was the closest North Carolina A&T would get; the Pirates would answer with a 28-11 run that culminated at the 3:02 mark on a 3-pointer from Morgan to put Hampton up 36-18.

Morgan scored a team-high nine points in the first half on 3-for-3 shooting from behind the arc, while Freeman and Funches each pulled down four rebounds to lead the Pirates. Hampton shot 50.0 percent (13-for-26) from the floor in the first half, hitting all five of its 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Hampton also held a 20-12 rebounding edge at the half.

Joshua and Coleman each had 10 points in the first half for the Aggies.

The Pirates will return to action on Saturday, when they return to the HU Convocation Center to take on Bethune-Cookman at 6 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.