Feb. 25, 2010
Final Stats
FARMVILLE, VA (NCCUEaglePride.com)- The North Carolina Central University men's basketball team took on Longwood University in search of the season sweep after taking the initial contest 12 days ago 81-78 in Durham, but ran into a hot-shooting Lancer squad that shot 54.5 percent in route to a 83-69 "Senior Night" victory inside Willett Hall on Thursday night.
NCCU started off the contest strong taking an early 13-9 lead with 13:01 left following a Nick Chasten (Raleigh, N.C.) jumper and a Vincent Davis (Nashville, Tenn.) layup giving the Eagles its largest lead of the first half.
Longwood finally got it together scoring eight straight points to take the lead back for good in the first frame at 17-13 with 11:26 left. In fact with the score tied at 19 with 9:44 remaining the Lancers outscored NCCU 24-12 to grab a 43-31 lead at the end of the first half.
One key factor for the Lancers in the first half was the 14-0 advantage in bench scoring as eight of the nine student athletes that came into the ballgame scored for Longwood. One of the four seniors that was honored prior to the contest, Dana Smith, keyed the first half rally for Longwood that included scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting to lead all scorers.
Not to be forgotten, C.J. Wilkerson (Oxford, N.C.) was saddled by foul trouble in the first half limiting him to just nine points.
With the Eagles trailing by 12 at the half, it took awhile for NCCU to make its patented second-half run, but thanks to juniors Wilkerson and Davis the Eagles slowly chipped away at a 17-point deficit, cutting it as low as eight at 69-61 with 5:42 to go following a layup by Joshua Worthy (Lewisvile, Texas) and an immediate steal and three pointer by Davis.
NCCU had numerous chances to cut the lead down further but Longwood seniors Kevin Swecker and Smith keyed a quick 6-0 run to stretch the lead back to 14. The Eagles simply ran out of gas as Longwood held on to win the ballgame 83-69.
Leading the way for NCCU, Davis scored 25 points giving him 52 points in two appearances at Longwood's home venue, while Wilkerson ended up with 22 points going for 9-for-12 from the charity stripe.
For the Lancers, Smith ended his career with his tenth career double-double tying Davis with a game-high 25 points while his postmate, Antwan Carter added another double-double to his ledger scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
NCCU (7-22) ends its first season under head coach LeVelle Moton winners in three of its last five contests, and for the first time ends the season with a winning record (7-4) at McDougald-McLendon Gym.
To stay up-to-date with NCCU Athletics, log on to NCCUEaglePride.com, the official website of the NCCU Athletics Department.
