GREENSBORO, NC — The North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team won their 25th-straight home conference game on Monday night inside the Corbett Sports Center, this time against Maryland Eastern-Shore, 83-62.
Senior forward Ronald Jackson scored a team-high 20 points to go along with 14 rebounds. It was his 13th double-double of the season and the 15th of his career.
“We’re focusing on winning one game at a time,” said acting head coach Will Jones. “Year-in and year-out, being one of the top teams in the league, winning at home is something that you have to do and I’m proud that these guys were able to get it done.”
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Junior guard Kameron Langley broke the school’s all-time assist record, previously held by Thomas Griffis, during the game Monday.
With just under seven minutes remaining in the first half, Langley tossed an inbounds pass to junior Darus Maddox who was deep inside the paint. Maddox scored on an easy layup to give Langley his 583rd career assist, passing Griffis for the record.
At halftime, Griffis presented Langley with ceremonial basketball and a portrait of Langley. Langley said breaking Griffis’ record is special to him because he has known Griffis for many years and competed against him when Griffis was coaching at Grimsley and Langley was at Southwest Guilford.
“Go ahead and put that record away for 400 years,” said Langley when asked what Griffis said to him regarding the record. “So I’m going to try my best. I have one more year, so we’ll see what happens.”
Langley now eyes the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s (MEAC) all-time record of 622 held by Larry Yarbray (Coppin State, 1988-92). Langley tied his career-high with 13 assists in the game to go along with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Junior guard Kwe Parker had a career-high 15 points and hauled in a career-high eight rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Seniors Andre Jackson and Devin Haygood both scored in double-figures in their respective last games at Corbett, Jackson with 12 and Haygood with 10.
The Hawks (5-23, 4-9 MEAC) jumped out to a 14-8 advantage to start the game, but the Aggies (15-14, 11-3 MEAC) utilized a 19-5 run over the next eight minutes to claim a 27-19 lead. A&T outscored UMES 16-8 the remainder of the half and take a 43-27 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, A&T jumped out to a 54-33 lead after an Andre Jackson fastbreak layup. The Aggies forced UMES into 17 turnovers and scored 17 points off of them. A&T also outscored the Hawks 48-26 in the paint. The Aggies held their largest lead of the night when they led 83-57 following a 3-pointer from freshman Harry Morrice.
Senior forward AJ Cheeseman was the high man for UMES with 16 points.
N.C. A&T (15-14, 11-3 MEAC) still has a hold on first place with a half-game lead over N.C. Central. The Aggies will have a week to prepare for their next opponent in S.C. State when they head to Orangeburg, S.C. on Monday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.”