Brian Moore and team celebrating after buzzer beater and fans storm the court (Matthew Patterson/NSU Athletics).
The Spartan men’s basketball team crushed the North Carolina Central Eagles 81-78 on February 3rd in Joseph Echols Hall. Brian Moore, who reached his 2,000 career points this game, had a buzzer beater shot that led to the win.
“I’m just happy to be on the winning side of the coin, but it just shows the resilience that we have,” said Spartan men’s basketball Head Coach Robert Jones. “I think championship teams find a way to win, so we were able to find a way to win and hopefully that bodes well for us in the future.”
The teams went layup for layup twice to start the quarter. First from Spartan forward Kuluel Mading, followed by Eagles guard Dionte Johnson, then from Spartan guard Jaylani Darden, and finally from Eagles forward Perry Smith Jr., giving the teams their first two ties of the game.
Smith received a foul for targeting on Mading and turned over the ball. Mading didn’t let that shake him and instead made a dunk in response. A traveling violation on the Eagles put the ball back in the Spartans possession as both teams tried to take control of the game.
Good hustle was displayed by Spartan forward Jalen Myers as he recovered an almost out of bounds ball, then Eagles forward Jaqai Murray pushed him into the ground and received a foul. Not letting it disrupt his game; Myers got a layup immediately after.
Moore jumped out of bounds to keep the ball in play for the Spartans, but the Eagles regained possession from forward Timmy Adedire getting a steal. From this, Eagles guard Keishon Porter made a layup and got a free throw shot.
The teams had four lead changes and seven ties throughout the first half. A dunk and two layups from Smith gave the teams their 8th tie of the match and ended the first half 37-37.
“I still don’t know how to feel. It’s just an amazing feeling to get the job done,” said Moore. “I delivered today. I didn’t deliver for the whole 40 minutes, but I feel like when it counted the most I was there.”
The second half started the same as the first, except the eagles got the first basket of the game. A loose ball was rolling down the court and immediately after it was recovered by Johnson, he attempted a layup. It bounced off the rim, but Smith came to his rescue and made a dunk from his rebound. Mading responded with a dunk of his own off a fast break from the previous play.
After the Spartans missed multiple baskets, the Eagles used that to their advantage to put a gap in the score. Eagles guard Isaac Parson found Porter for an alley-oop to give the Eagles a 10-point lead, the largest of the game. The gap did not last long as the Spartans went on first a 5-0 scoring run, then a 7-0 scoring run.
The Spartans’ resilience made it a one-point game with the Eagles on top around the two-minute mark. The pressure was on, and mistakes were being made on both sides as the eagles were trying to keep their lead and the Spartans were trying to take it.
Parson kicked the ball out of bounds, turning the ball over, and Ings missed 1/2 free throws that would have brought the teams to a tie. Johnson getting a turnover from a travel violation gave the Spartans another chance to take the lead.
With 30 seconds left of the match, Moore made a layup that tied the game 78-78. With the eagles unable to secure a shot within their possession of the ball, overtime was projected to happen, but Moore made a buzzer-beater three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left of the game to secure the win 81-78.
“I knew it was going in. It is not something that we practice, it was a straight draw play, and they execute it to perfection,” said Jones. “It was a great crowd, shoutout to everyone that came out, we needed the energy down the stretch…everything kind of pushed us through.”
The Spartan leaders of the game were Brian Moore with 19 points, Kuluel Mading with six rebounds and one block, and Jaylani Darden with four assists and two steals. The Eagle leaders of the game were Perry Smith Jr. with 24 points and nine rebounds, Isaac Parson with five assists, and Po’Boigh King with one block.
The Spartans next game will be against the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks on February 15th at 4:00 p.m. in Princess Anne, Maryland.
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