DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.- (NCCUEaglePride.com) - The North Carolina Central University Men’s basketball team came to Daytona Beach, Fla. with a mission. To take down the MEAC’s top team and prove to the rest of the league that the Eagles were someone to reckon with come next season. Through the first 16 minutes it certainly looked that way until the Bethune-Cookman University Wildcats used a 13-1 run to end the first half on the way to a 73-60 win on Monday night.

In the third meeting between these two programs the Eagles jumped out in front on the league-leading Wildcats 13-7 through the first four minutes and even held onto an eight-point lead at 25-17 forcing B-CU head coach Clifford Reed to call a timeout to stop the momentum.

Following Landon Clement’s jumper with 4:07 left the Eagles led 27-22, and from that point forward the Wildcats went on a 13-1 run to end that half that gave the MEAC regular season champs the lead and the momentum heading into the locker room with a 35-27 advantage.

NCCU tried to make its move early in the second half as they cut the deficit in half at 37-33 with 17:55 left in the contest following Nick Chasten’s bucket.

That was as close as the Eagles would get on the night as the Wildcats flexed its muscle shooting 64.7 percent from the field in the second frame, missing just six shots on the way to the 73-60 win.

Despite the loss, C.J. Wilkerson became the 33rd Eagle in school history to join the 1,000-point club. The Oxford, N.C. native reached this feat in just 57 games. He finished with 17 points to give him 1,009 points in his two seasons. Landon Clement ended the contest with a team-high 18 points hitting four threes in the loss. Junior forward Nick Chasten came close to another double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds. Starting Point guard Justin Leemow finished with eight assists for the Eagles.

NCCU (14-14) returns to McDougald-McLendon Gym to host South Carolina State University for “Senior Night” on Thursday, March 3 at 7:30.

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