BALTIMORE, Md. – North Carolina Central University held off a late surge from Morgan State University for its seventh consecutive win in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and moved into first place in the league with a 68-62 win at Hill Field House.
 
NCCU (16-6, 7-1 MEAC) got off to a strong start in the contest, and shot 50 percent from the floor over the first half.  The Eagles were led by Kyle Benton (Long Beach, Calif.) who poured in 10 points in the first 20 minutes on his way to a career-high tying 17 points with six rebounds.
 
The Eagles led MSU (10-21, 7-2 MEAC) by eight at the break, 31-23, and after the intermission NCCU exploded on a 16-7 run to lead by 17 at 47-30, just seven minutes into the second half.  From there, MSU came alive on a 14-6 run to trim the lead to six at 50-44 with eight minutes left.
 
The Bears kept fighting, and closed the gap to just three with under two minutes to play.  However, clutch free throw shooting from Del'vin Dickerson (Houston, Texas) and Patrick Cole (Newark, N.J.) down the stretch helped to preserve the win for the Eagles.
 
Cole tied Benton for the game-high with 17 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists, and Dickerson was close to a double-double with 11 points and seven boards.  All eight Eagles that checked into the game made a mark in the scoring column, helped by Dajuan Graf's (Charlotte, N.C.) game-high six assists.
 
Tiwian Kendley (Harlem, N.Y.) led the Bears with his 14 points and four rebounds.
 
The Eagles finish out the trip at Coppin State on Monday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. before coming back to Durham for a pair of home games.