NC Central tops NC A&T 86-80 to win MEAC title

Mar 6, 2020, 03:18 am

DURHAM, N.C. -- Jibiri Blount grabbed 12 rebounds and scored 19 points, including a go-ahead free throw with 6:04 to play, and NC Central beat North Carolina A&T 86-80 on Thursday night to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season championship.

Blount's free throw put the Eagles up 66-65 and NC Central pulled ahead by as many as eight points. The Aggies closed to 86-80 on Kameron Langley's free throw with 25 seconds left but neither team could score from there.

C.J. Keyser scored 20 points and Nicolas Fennel added a career-high 19 for NC Central (17-13, 13-3), which finished the regular season with its fifth straight win. Justin Whatley matched his career best with 10 points.

Langley scored 18 points with eight rebounds and 12 assists for the Aggies (16-15, 12-3), who finished second in regular-season conference play but saw their four-game win streak end. Tyler Maye scored 19 points, Tyrone Lyons had 15, Andre Jackson had 11 and Ronald Jackson had nine points with 12 rebounds.

The Eagles leveled the season series against the Aggies with the win. NC A&T defeated NC Central 77-60 on Feb. 17.

Both teams will get byes from the first round of the MEAC tournament, which beings March 10.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com