Feb. 16, 2008

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DURHAM, N.C. - North Carolina Central University senior forward Charles Futrell scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Eagles to a 70-56 victory over the Hawks of Chowan University inside McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium in Durham, N.C. on Saturday.

The win was the second straight for the Eagles, as they improve to 3-23 in their first season as an NCAA Division I program. Chowan drops its record to 11-14.

Futrell shot 10-of-14 from the field, including 4-of-7 from long range, while adding five rebounds and two assists in 40 minutes of action. Junior guard Bryan Ayala collected 18 points and a season-best nine assists, while sophomore forward Joshua Worthy contributed eight points and four steals for NCCU.

Three Hawks - Jaleel Nelson, Layth Mansour and Montino Williams - scored 10 points each to top Chowan.

The visiting Hawks stormed out to a 5-0 lead when Charles Rhodes followed a three-pointer with a baseline jumper at 17:52.

NCCU chipped away at the deficit and took its first advantage courtesy of a triple by junior guard Philip Branch to make the score 12-11 at 13:10.

The two squads exchanged the lead four more times before an emphatic dunk by Futrell put NCCU on top 16-15 at 9:14. The Eagles held the lead the rest of the way, enjoying a 34-26 edge at halftime and a cushion as high as 19 points (60-41 at 7:33) in the second half.

NCCU shot a season-best 56.8 percent from the field (25-of-44), including 35.0 percent from beyond the arch (7-of-20), and made 72.2 percent of its free throw attempts (13-of-18). Chowan, on the other hand, shot only 39.6 percent from the floor (21-of-53), including 15.8 percent from three-point land (3-of-19), and 55.0 percent from the charity stripe (11-of-20).

The Eagles distributed a season-high 22 assists and committed only 14 turnovers.

NCCU returns to action on Tuesday, hosting Utah Valley at 7:30 p.m. in Durham, N.C.