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DES MOINES, Iowa – North Carolina Central University used combined game-high performances from juniors Jeremy Ingram (Charlotte, N.C.) and Stanton Kidd (Baltimore, Md.) as the two teamed up 46 points to carry the Eagles who nearly pulled off the huge upset of the host Bulldogs of Drake University falling 72-69 on a snowy Wednesday night at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa.
 
In the third meeting, between these two programs the Eagles had their backs against the wall from the beginning as senior Ray Willis (Atlanta, Ga.) amassed two fouls in less than two minutes into the contest putting him on the bench for the rest of the half.
 
Ingram’s first three of the night gave the maroon and gray a 7-6 lead with 16:52 to go in the first frame and Drake responded with a 10-0 run over the next two minutes to pull ahead 16-7.
 
The spurt the Bulldogs led 22-10 until Ingram continued to heat up with another shot from the outside to aid a 5-0 jolt, cutting the margin to 7 at 22-15. 
 
Over the final 12 minutes, the Eagles kept nagging the Bulldogs trimming the deficit to one at 36-35 on Ingram’s fifth first half three-pointer as the junior scored 17 points to carry the maroon and gray.
 
Drake took a 41-37 lead into the locker room, but the momentum was clearly on NCCU’s side.
 
The Eagles came out in the second half and continued to throw haymakers at Drake as sophomore Karamo Jawara scored six straight points to tie the game up at 45 with 16:29 remaining.
 
The Bulldogs followed that up with a Ben Simons three-pointer to snatch the lead back, but the maroon and gray did not back down.
 
Drake stretched the margin out to six at 53-47 following after a Gary Ricks three-pointer with 13:51 to go, and the maroon and gray would not be deterred.
 
That’s when Kidd and Ingram answered back to tie the game at 53, but DU’s Daddy Ugbede’s layup put the host Bulldogs back in front at 55-53, keeping head coach LeVelle Moton’s squad at bay.
 
With 10:56 to go in the game, the Eagles took the lead for the first time in the second half on Kidd’s spectacular dunk and the foul at 57-55 sending the 2,388 fans in attendance into silence.
 
The maroon and gray expanded the lead to five at 60-55, and Drake responded once again to tie the contest at 60 on a Richard Carter shot from the outside with 8:18 remaining.
 
With the game tied at 63 and 4:14 left on the clock Kidd’s layup put NCCU up for the final time of the night at 65-63.
 
With 2:23 to go, Ingram was able to tie the game hitting one-of-two foul shots to knot-it-up at 66 and the Bulldogs’ Seth VanDeest scored the next four points for Drake to seemingly put them ahead for good at 70-66 but the story took another twist with Drake ahead 68-66 with 1:06 to go as Ingram was called for a controversial charge call as one official was signaling a block, while the other underneath the basket called a charge.  Had the call gone the other way, Ingram would have been at the line for a possible three-point play.
 
That’s when Kidd drilled a three-pointer with 31 seconds left keeping the dreams of an upset alive.
 
The hope for the win arose on the following possession as the maroon and gray forced a jumpball which gave the Eagles the ball back with 27 seconds left on the alternate possession.
 
NCCU worked it to Ingram who missed a contested three-pointer and Carter drilled both of his free throws with 11 seconds left to give Drake the three point lead at 72-69.
 
Both Ingram and Chapman went on to attempt shots from the outside that fell short as time wound down and the Bulldogs held on for the 72-69 win.
 
Ingram finished with 23 points going 5-for-10 from three-point range a career-high for him, while Kidd was one-point shy of his NCCU career-high with 23 points for the Eagles.
 
Jawara ended the evening with double-figure rebounds for the second time in his career as he pulled down 10 boards in a career-high 31 minutes due to the loss of redshirt sophomore Jay Copeland due to injury.
 
With six assists in the loss, Chapman is now tied with current head coach LeVelle Moton for sixth all-time at NCCU with 278 helpers, needing 10 to move into a tie for the top-5.
 
Drake (5-5) was led by VanDeest who finished with 19 points, while the maroon and gray forced one of the top shooters in the Missouri Valley Conference Simons to a 4-for-11 effort from the outside and only six points in the second half to finish with 16 in the win.
 
The Eagles (5-6 overall, 1-0) head out west to Orem, Utah to battle Utah Valley University in a rematch of the Nov. 27 contest in which NCCU won 70-52.  The matchup is set for Saturday, Dec. 22 at 6:00 p.m. (EST) from the Utah Community Credit Union Center.
 
Stay up-to-date with North Carolina Central University Athletics by flying over to www.NCCUEaglePride.com, the official website of NCCU Athletics.