ORANGEBURG, S.C. – North Carolina Central fell 85-72 at South Carolina State after the Bulldogs caught fire from beyond the arc in the second half on Wednesday night at SHM Memorial Center. Jae Slack, Gage Lattimore, Dionte Johnson and Kelechi Okworogwo all finished in double figures for the Eagles.
NCCU (10-15, 6-4 MEAC) suffered its fourth conference loss in the first meeting with South Carolina State this season. Slack led the Eagles with 17 points, mainly by driving to the basket and drawing nine fouls. He went 9-of-13 from the free throw line. Lattimore had 16 points, followed by Johnson and Okworogwo, who both had 15. Okworogwo also grabbed eight rebounds.
SCSU (7-18, 5-4 MEAC) showed different defensive looks throughout the game and NC Central did its best to counter on offense. Jayden Johnson led all scorers with 20 points, along with Christopher Parker's 18-point, 7-rebound performance for South Carolina State.
The Bulldogs held the lead for 17:44 in the first half, with an 8-0 run steering an 11-point advantage with 9:49 until halftime. The Eagles slimmed the score to as much as four before entering the half down 36-30.
NC Central started clicking to open the second half. An Eagles 8-0 run gave NCCU a 40-38 lead, its first since 14:20 in the first half, which caused a SCSU timeout.
That's when the Bulldogs started to let it fly from three-point land. Johnson, Owen Bronston Jr., Florian Tenebay and Noah Treadwell combined for 7-of-10 from beyond the arc in the second half, after only making three in the first 20 minutes. SCSU finished the game shooting 45.4 percent from three.
With 11 minutes left, NCCU was only down by one (56-55), but the lead stretched to double digits on multiple occasions, as the Eagles did their best to cut the deficit. The closest NC Central would get was within five (68-63) with 4:09 remaining.
South Carolina State was over the bonus, as NCCU was able to get some points from the free throw line, but it wasn't enough time for the Eagles to complete a comeback attempt.
The Maroon & Gray continue on the road this weekend in Washington D.C., playing Howard at noon on Saturday, Feb. 21.
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