On Jan. 10,  live on ESPNU the North Carolina A&T men’s basketball team faced MEAC opponent Bethune-Cookman at Corbett Sports Center. Prior to the game, both the Aggies and the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats remained undefeated in conference play. In the end it was the Aggies that lost that title loosing 69-72 Wildcats.

The Aggies record is now 2-1 in the MEAC while the Wildcats remain undefeated at 2-0.

Thomas Coleman, MEAC player of the week, finished the game with 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting while guard Nic Simpson led the way with 25 points.

RJ Reed, Wildcat guard, led Bethune with 24 points and 5 assists. Wildcat forward Garrius Holloman ended the game with 17 points.

The Aggies and the Wildcats battled for the lead in the beginning of the half but the Aggies pulled away going on a 15-4 run to lead Bethune 26-18.

At the half the Aggies led 36-25 going into the locker room with an 11-point lead.

In the second half, Bethune chipped away at A&T’s lead and with just under eight minutes to go the Aggies found themselves down 51-52. The Aggies and Wildcats battled for the remainder of the game but critical three pointers from the Wildcats sealed their victory.

Aggie head coach Jerry Eaves was not at all impressed with the Aggies’ second half play,”When you give up 42 points in the second have it’s a total collapse a total team effort,” said Eaves.

“I don’t know what to do at this time, but I’ll have to figure it out.”

Live on ESPNU the Aggies fell 69-72 to the Wildcats.

“The television was on, and we didn’t execute,” said Eaves.

“We acted like we had forgotten how to execute once they brought the cameras in.”

This was the Aggies first conference loss as well as their first home loss of the season. A&T is back in action on Saturday, Jan. 15 against Howard University in Washington.  

• Lauren Morgan