Nov. 18, 2009
Final Stats
DURHAM, N.C. (NCCUEaglePride.com)- Solid second-half defense and five Eagles scoring in double figures was the recipe for North Carolina Central University's first win of the 2009-10 season in its home opener at McDougald-McLendon Gym on Wednesday night with an 85-70 victory over North Carolina Wesleyan College.
The Battling Bishops came out of the contest scorching hot from the field shooting 64.3 percent from the field which included 7-for-10 from the perimeter. A Domarius Thomas layup with 9:36 to go put North Carolina Wesleyan up 33-22, which was its largest margin of the first half. From that point on, the hard-charging Eagles went on a 25-12 run to tie the contest up at the halftime break at 47.
That would be the last time that Wesleyan had the lead. NCCU came out strong in the second half, grabbing command of the contest behind a strong second-half effort by junior college transfer T.J. Granger (Richmond, Va.). For the first time in his Eagle career, Granger scored 25 points going 8-for-14 from the field, including 9-for-12 from the charity stripe. The Richmond, Va. product nearly had his first career double-double at NCCU, finishing the night with eight rebounds, two blocks and a steal.
The four other Eagles contributing double-figure numbers were junior Vincent Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) with 17 points, C.J. Wilkerson (Oxford, N.C.) with 15 points, Michael Glasker (Newport News, Va.) with 12 points and Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.), who came off the bench to add 13 points in the win for NCCU.
The main cog to the Eagle victory was the 45 points NCCU scored off of 29 Bishop turnovers. NCCU finished the home opener with 10 steals and seven blocks on the defensive end.
The victory for NCCU (1-2) keeps the Eagles perfect at 2-0 against NC-Wesleyan in the all-time series, and it marks the first-ever win for first-year head coach LeVelle Moton, who was elated to get that first victory.
"It feels good to get this monkey off our back so to speak," said Moton. " I actually thought the kids were nervous in the first half, but once we settled down, we defended much more to my liking, stepped up to the challenge, and got the victory which I'm proud of."
The Eagles head back down to the Sunshine State to wrap up regional round action of the 2009 2kSports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. NCCU will face FIU on Friday, Nov. 20 at 6:00 p.m., Murray State following an off-day on Nov. 22 at 6:00 p.m., and will end the tournament against James Madison on Monday, Nov. 23 at 4:00 p.m. All three contests will take place at U.S. Century Bank Arena in Miami, Fla.
To stay up-to-date with NCCU Athletics, log on to NCCUEaglePride.com, the official website of the NCCU Athletics Department.
