Feb. 20, 2008

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DURHAM, N.C. - Lenoir-Rhyne College had all the answers during an 81-69 road victory over North Carolina Central University inside McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium on Wednesday night.

The visiting Bears jumped out to an early lead, and then answered every challenge NCCU threw their way. The Eagles, playing in their final home game of the season, never gave up and mounted several determined charges, but could not get any closer than eight points in the second half.

Lenoir-Rhyne, ranked No. 15 in the latest NCAA Division II poll, improved to 20-3 and won its 13th consecutive game. NCCU, in its first season as a Division I program, dropped to 3-25.

Four Bears scored in double figures, including two with double-doubles. Senior forward Josh Rudder led the way with 18 points, 10 rebounds, four blocked shots, two assists and a steal in 34 minutes of action. Junior guard Josh Rudder collected 15 points, 10 assists, five boards and three steals for LRC.

NCCU was topped by senior forward Charles Futrell, who scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in his final home game. Junior guard Philip Branch added 17 points, while junior guard Bryan Ayala contributed 11 points, six assists and four steals.

NCCU travels to upstate New York to play Colgate University on Saturday (Feb. 23) at 7:00 p.m.

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HERALD-SUN (www.HeraldSun.com)

Poor 1st half dooms NCCU

By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun mpotter@heraldsun.com

Feb 21, 2008

DURHAM -- Two games in as many nights is a tough assignment for any basketball team.

But for one that lacks depth such as N.C. Central, it was too big a hill to climb Wednesday night.

A rough first half sunk the Eagles, as Lenoir-Rhyne placed four players in double figures including two with double-doubles to take an 81-69 victory in NCCU's final home game of the season at McLendon-McDougald Gym.

Josh Kindred led the Bears with 18 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Reggie Bratton with 16 points, Josh Rudder with 15 points and 10 assists and Marcus Hodges with 11 points.

The Bears, who are No. 15 nationally in NCAA Division II and No. 3 in the South Atlantic Region, improved to 20-3 with their 13th straight victory.

Charles Futrell had 20 points and six rebounds in his last home game for the Eagles (3-25), who got 17 points from Philip Branch and 11 from Bryan Ayala.

"I judge our team by effort -- that's our niche -- and it wasn't there in the first half tonight," NCCU coach Henry Dickerson said. "It's no excuse, it's just life, but our best players played a lot of minutes [Tuesday] night in a very physical game [in a 69-62 loss to Utah Valley], and we didn't have the hops we needed.

"I'm not taking anything away from Lenoir-Rhyne. They have a good team and are well-coached, but we just weren't able to put two halves together."

The Bears shot 55.4 percent from the floor to 42.1 for the Eagles, also winning the rebound battle 38-30.

NCCU went 2-5 at home this season, but the Lenoir-Rhyne's 12-point victory was the only home game the Eagles lost by more than seven points.

"We knew going into the season we were going to be athletic and that we had some good senior leadership [from Kindred and Bratton]," Bears coach John Lentz said. "We knew this would be a tough game, but we had a 'bye' week on our conference schedule and I didn't want one in February.

"[NCCU] is quick, and we should have done a better job on Futrell. Our guys had seen him a couple of years ago when we played them at Catawba [in a holiday tournament]."

The Bears led 40-25 at halftime, paced by 10 points from Kindred.

Lenoir-Rhyne shot 64.0 percent from the floor in the first half to the Eagles' 31.0. NCCU had 14 turnovers before the break to 16 for the visitors.

"They're ranked where they are for a reason," Futrell said of the Bears. "We came out and didn't show the intensity that they showed from the beginning.

"I'm going to miss playing games here, but that's just part of being a senior."

NCCU led 5-2 on a 3-pointer from Branch at the 17:53 mark before the Bears responded with a 7-0 run, taking a 9-5 advantage on a Bratton jumper at 15:58.

The Eagles came back to take a 16-14 lead on Futrell's layup at 12:15, but the Bears scored the next seven to make it 21-16 on Rudder's three-point play with 11 minutes left.

NCCU trailed 25-23 after Ayala hit the first of two free throws at 6:21, but then the wheels came off for the Eagles.

Lenoir-Rhyne scored 11 straight points, taking a 36-23 margin on a Ryan Crawford dunk at 2:03. Dickerson reacted by calling timeout, taking all of his top players off the floor and inserting five reserves.

The Bears' biggest lead was 19 points on two occasions early in the second half. The Eagles sliced the margin to eight twice, the last at 73-65 on a Tremain Holloway layup with 2:09 to go, but could get no closer.

"We just didn't play good enough defense," Branch said. "We can score points. We just didn't stop them. They kept their composure, and we didn't."