jjohnson@heraldsun.com; 419-6667
DURHAM -- N.C. Central overcame a jittery first half and beat N.C. Wesleyan 85-70 on Wednesday night at McLendon-McDougald Gym, giving Coach LeVelle Moton his first victory in the Eagles' home opener.
"We came a little too eager to please, but we recovered and made adjustments," Moton said.
T.J. Granger led NCCU (1-2) with 25 points, while four other Eagles reached double figures.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Granger, a junior college transfer from Alleghany College of Maryland. "It was tough at first because we weren't playing but I knew we could come back. We started the second half stronger than the first half."
N.C. Wesleyan led by as many as 11 points in the first half thanks to 64.3-percent shooting. Moton said his team just gave the Battling Bishops too many open looks from outside. N.C. Wesleyan hit 7 of 10 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half.
"We did a poor job of finding their shooters," Moton said.
One of the adjustments Moton made was putting C.J. Wilkerson on N.C. Wesleyan's Trey Davis. Wilkerson, with a five-inch height advantage, took over for Michael Glasker, who was practically the same height as the 5-8 Davis. The switch paid off doubly for the Eagles as Wilkerson kept Davis under wraps and Glasker was able to wreak havoc on other parts of the court.
"Putting C.J. on Davis was a change that worked," Moton said. "It began to go our way when we did that."
The Eagles ultimately were able to tie the game at 47-all at the half.
"It definitely gave us some momentum going into halftime tied," said junior guard Vincent Davis, who finished with 17 points.
The Eagles then were able to exploit their size advantage in the second half as Granger scored 17 in the second half. Moton said he expected that from the 6-8 Granger and that he could be even better if his conditioning was where it needed to be.
"I'm very demanding of him," Moton said. "For so long he's been able to get away with being the biggest player on the court but now he's going to have to work harder."
On the glass, the rebound battle was fairly even with the Eagles holding a slight 39-37 advantage. But where NCCU really was effective was on the offensive end, where the Eagles pulled down 22 that resulted in 22 second-chance points. NCCU also forced the Battling Bishops into 29 turnovers, which they turned into 45 points.
Moton said it was important to get a win this early in the season to build some confidence. Wins have been rare for the Eagles the last two seasons. A year ago, NCCU went 18 games before tasting victory and two years ago it took until the sixth game to get a win. NCCU's first two games this season were away games with North Carolina and Miami. The Eagles, though, hit the road again for their next five, including three this weekend back in Miami for the 2K Sports Classic against Florida International, Murray State and James Madison.
Earlier Wednesday in the women's game, Campbell defeated the Lady Eagles 79-63 to keep NCCU winless in three games. Freshman Joanna Miller scored a game-high 22 points for the Eagles, who fell behind early and just were not able to take a lead in the game after tying it at 9-all.
Latoya Bennett reached double figures for the second straight game with 12 points, while Brittany Myatt pulled down seven rebounds to lead the Eagles on the boards.
Campbell 79, N.C. Central 63
CAMPBELL -- Cloxton 5-6 2-2 17, Baker 2-4, 2-2 6, Williamson 1-8 0-0 2, O'Neill 3-5 3-4 9, Yesh 7-13 0-0 14, Hall 1-2 1-2 3, Spry 2-3 1-2 5, Cannon 0-4 4-4 4, Britt 5-9 1-2 13, Cooper 1-3, 0-0 2, Bass 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 29-60 14-187 79.
N.C. CENTRAL -- Houston 3-8 1-2 7, DeBerry 4-8 1-2 9, Miller 9-23 0-0 22, Myatt 3-7 0-0 6, Bennett 4-4 4-7 12, Battle 0-1 0-0 0, Blanks 1-5 0-0 0, Pryor 0-0 1-2 1, Pollock 1-1 1-4 3. Totals 25-57 8-17 63.
Halftime--Campbell 44, N.C. Central 22. 3-Point goals--Campbell 7-16 (Cloxton 5-5, Baker 0-1, O'Neill 0-1, Yesh 0-1, Spry 0-1, Cannon 0-2, Britt 2-5. N.C. Central 5-19 (Houston 0-1, DeBerry 0-1, Miller 4-13, Battle 0-1, Blanks 1-3). Rebounds--Campbell 35 (O'Neill 5, Cooper 5). N.C. Central 36 (Myatt 7). Assists--Campbell 21 (Cloxton 5), N.C. Central 15 (Miller 5). Turnovers--Campbell 18, N.C. Central 23. Att.--719. Officials--Green, Cruse, Walker.
