MEAC champs again! NCCU knocks off rival NC A&T for regular-season crown
North Carolina Central basketball coach LeVelle Moton always talks about the standard and how it never changes. Even with a high roster turnover each season, supporters still expect championships.
Players like Jeremy Ingram, Poobie Chapman and Pat Cole laid the foundation, and each season, no matter who wears the NCCU uniform, it’s MEAC title or bust.
So with the ghost of championships past — Ingram, Chapman, Cole — literally standing in the corner and watching, the 2019-20 version of the Eagles joined an elite club. With a 86-80 win over rival North Carolina A&T, NCCU won the MEAC regular-season title for the first time since the 2016-17 season, Cole’s senior year.
That means the Eagles will enter next week’s MEAC tournament in Norfolk as the No. 1 seed. NCCU (17-13) has won three consecutive MEAC tournaments, winning it last season as a No. 3 seed. The Eagles were a six seed the previous year and blazed through the event as a No. 1 in 2017.
It might not be such a breeze this time around, but that’s an issue for next week. On Thursday night, it was a celebration. One by one, the players and staff climbed a ladder to cut down a piece of the net.
Some members of this current team were on the last two MEAC championship teams. Guys like senior Jibri Blount (19 points, 12 rebounds) was a role player a year ago. Against the Aggies he came up with some clutch steals late and some big defensive rebounds, just when his team needed it the most.
Junior Jordan Perkins started on the last two title teams and scored four points during a crucial 6-0 run for the Eagles. Nicolas Fennell played out of his mind, scoring 19 points, including putting a guy on a poster with a dunk in the first half. All three of those players have won on the big stage, but they knew the importance of this team, the 2019-20 version, to get a championship to call its own.
“It’s extremely important,” Blount said. “You come in here with a new group of guys, Coach Moton told us it would be a lot of firsts for this team. Coming into this game we knew we had an opportunity to do something special.”
As Blount talked, Chapman, the all-time assist leader in school history, stood and listened. He took pictures on his phone of Blount while being interviewed. As the game ended, Chapman and Cole called Blount over for a celebratory hug, like big brothers, welcoming him to the championship club, continuing the legacy.
“It’s amazing to see that we came here and left the program in great hands,” Chapman said. “This is a family. Just seeing guys like Jibri and Jordan (win), it’s a great thing for me. Seeing these guys get on this big stage, it’s amazing.”
Moton admitted the Eagles didn’t play their best in the first half, yet someone led by one, 40-39, at the break. NCCU actually shot better than A&T (53.6 percent to 43.6), but had seven turnovers and was being killed on the offensive boards, giving up eight second-chance points in the opening 20 minutes.
So Moton let the “old heads” come into the locker room and address the team. Chapman, Ingram and Cole all said their peace, some of which Chapman said can’t be repeated, and it left an impact.
“I give them liberty to go and talk to the guys,” Moton said. “They know what to tell our kids.”
Whatever they told them worked. Most of the second half went back and forth, and at one point it looked like the Aggies (16-15) were ready to run away. After a 3-pointer from Tyrone Lyons, A&T went up seven, forcing Moton to call a timeout. After exchanging baskets out of the timeout, the Eagles went on a 6-0 run and eventually tied the score at 65. Once C.J. Keyser (20 points) scored on a layup to put NCCU up three, the Eagles never looked back. The home crowd wouldn’t let them.
The Eagles went on a tear, going up by eight after a free throw from Blount. The Aggies pulled to within five in the final minute, but NCCU won it at the line. A few moments later, at the same basket where they sealed it with those free throws, they were cutting down the nets for the first time in three seasons.
“Championships aren’t easy,” Moton said. “We just had to stay the course and hats off to those guys.”
The last time the two teams met in Greensboro, A&T embarrassed the Eagles, leading by as many as 24 in the first half and winning by 17. The Aggies were looking to build off that and win their first outright MEAC title in 28 years.
But NCCU, undefeated at home this year and winners of 15 in a row in the nest, soared to the most important win of the year, one that will put a target on their back next week, which is nothing new.
“They have 24 hours to enjoy this,” Moton said. “Then it’s right back to square one. We’re going to go right back at it, we don’t want to be on the other end of this.”
Both A&T and NCCU will start the MEAC tournament on Wednesday in Norfolk.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 10:50 PM with the headline "MEAC champs again! NCCU knocks off rival NC A&T for regular-season crown."
