A&T STATISTICS OFFICERS: g Kameron Langley (14 pts, 7 assists, 6 rebs, 4 stl); F Colin Smith (14 pts, 7 reps).

HPU STATISTICAL LEADERS: G John-Michael Wright (18 pts, 4 rebs, 4 assists); G Jaden House (15 pts, 6 rebs); F Zach Austin (14 pts, 6 rebs); G Bryant Randleman (10 pts, 7 assists, 6 rebs)

WHY A&T DIDN’T GET THE W: Bounce. The Aggies were eliminated 39-23, giving the Panthers a 15-8 advantage in second chance points.

WHY HPU GOT THE W: The Panthers got a great comeback from their bench, outscoring the Aggies 25-17. House came off the bench with 15 points, including 5-of-5 shooting from the free throw line. HPU shot 82.4% from the free throw line, while the Aggies shot 41%.

CRUCIAL: Demetric Horton A stitched to the basket for a Lay-up followed by a 3-point langley to reduce the advance of HPU to 49-38 with 15 minutes to play. It was as if a #ClubCorbett race arrived for aggies. But it would not be the case. Instead, HPU marked the following 10 points, with Bryson Childress delivering the one-two punch with 3 consecutive points to give the Panthers an advance of 59-38 with 11:40 remaining.

GREENSBORO EAST – The North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team suffered their third home loss of the season Wednesday night, a 78-58 loss to the High Point University Panthers inside the Corbett Sports Center.

The loss drops A&T to 11-18 overall and 6-9 in Big South play while HPU improves to 12-17 and 6-9 in league action.

The first points of the competition belonged to the great man who graduated Colin Smith on a hook in the way. That was followed by eight straight Panther points, half of those coming from Bryant Randleman.

Smith tied the game at 8 after another floater in the paint, but that’s when the Panther bench, specifically Jaden House, started to kick in. House knocked down back-to-back triples and single-handedly scored HPU’s next 11 points, putting them ahead 19-10.

Two free throws from David Beatty and yet another Smith layup would bring the Aggies within five, but seven straight points from Big South leading scorer John-Michael Wright pushed HPU’s lead to 12.

The Panthers led by up to 15 points in the first half after a Wright layup, but four points and two assists from Kameron Langley helped in A&T’s comeback effort that took them to less than seven years. Three points in the last minute from Wright and Zach Austin gave HPU a 10-point, 37-27 advantage at the break.

Two important moments defined in the second half. First, the Aggies cut HPU’s lead at 43-33 on a short jumper Jeremy Robinson in the alley. Then, on the ensuing possession, Austin missed a 3-pointer, but Rob Peterson III appeared to be hit by Horton before coming back up for the offensive rebound.

But instead, his tip was counted. He went to the line to convert the 3-point play to give the Panthers a 46-33 lead. Austin then hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 16-point lead with 16 minutes left. However, the Aggies scored the next five points before a 10-0 HPU run that included 3 straight points from Childress to give HPU an insurmountable 21-point lead.

Austin was the main source of HPU’s offensive explosion, scoring 10 points in the first nine minutes of the second half.

Panthers fired 54.7 percent of the soil and 42.9 percent of the 3-point range.

QUOTE: “We have always been inconsistent. I have to try to figure out how to prepare them to play again like they did on Saturday and how they did two Saturdays ago against Longwood. We played some really good games against Longwood and Campbell, and in between we haven’t played well, so it’s just trying to get them back on their feet and ready to play, trying to motivate them to play hard for each other. which I will try to do before Saturday and before the Grand Tournoi du Sud.”

A&T Head Coach Will Jones on what he wants to see from his team on the stretch

PLAY NOTES:

• A & T suffered his first home defeat in February under Jones, falling to 8-1.
• In February, they are now 8-6 (.571) all-time under Jones.
• Langley notched his 48th career double-digit game with 14 points on Wednesday.
• With his seven cents tonight, Langley now has 890 for his career, tying him for 16th all-time in NCAA history.
• After Wednesday’s action, Langley led the Aggies in assists 19 times this season. He led the Aggies in assists 108 times during his career.