DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University bounced back from a loss the night before with a 69-52 win over Maryland Eastern Shore to get its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference win of the season on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at McDougald-McLendon Arena.
 
MDES (4-13, 1-1 MEAC) jumped ahead of NCCU (10-6, 1-1 MEAC) in the early stages of the game, however a jumper from Dajuan Graf (Charlotte, N.C.) pushed the Eagles in front, 22-20 with 7:45 to play in the first half.  This time around, NCCU held the lead for the remainder of the game.
 
NCCU led by as many as 20 in the second half at 49-29, but from that point MDES went on a 21-9 run over nine minutes of play to trim the lead to single-digits at 56-50 with five minutes remaining.  From there, the Eagles buckled down and finished the game on a 13-2 run to close the game at 69-52.
 
Graf was a driving force for the maroon and gray as he finished one point off of his career-high with a game-high 25 points and a team-high nine rebounds.  Patrick Cole (Newark, N.J.) dished out a joint game-high six assists with 14 points and eight rebounds, and Del'vin Dickerson (Houston, Texas) picked up 11 points with two blocks.
 
Bakari Copeland (Decatur, Ga.) has been the Hawks' top scorer over the course of the season and led them in points in this game with 13 and nine rebounds, followed by Isaac Taylor (Wachapreague, Va.) who had 12 points.
 
The Eagles will face their first MEAC road test on Saturday, Jan. 14 at Norfolk State before playing a nationally televised game on ESPNU at Hampton on Monday, Jan. 16.