Final Box
Play-by-Play
DURHAM, NC—The South Carolina State men's basketball team closed out its regular season on a sour note dropping a tough 78-62 defeat to North Carolina Central Thursday at McDougald-McLendon Center..

      N.C. Central was led by junior guard Landon Clement with a career-high 33 points and a personal best 15-of-15 from the charity stripe. SC State was led by senior forward Darnell Porter with a team-high 15 points, while junior center Presano Bell Chipped in 11 in the loss.

      North Carolina Central the newcomer to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference improves to 15-14 overall, while SC State finishes the regular season with a 9-21 overall record and 5-11 in the league.

       “Well it's always disappointing when you end the regular season not on a good note, “ said SC State head coach Tim Carter. “ Give N.C. Central credit their well coached and will be very tough in the conference for years to come.”

      SC State controlled most of the first-half jumping out to a seven point lead, 24-17 off a layup by   sophomore guard Khalif Toombs at the 8:55 mark. A layup by senior C.J. Wilkerson followed by 3-pointer by Landon Clement with 7:46 left cut the lead to two, 24-22.

       Bell's layup with 3:03 left in the first-half extended SC State's lead to five, 25-30. Clement tossed in three free-throws after being fouled , while attempting a 3-pointer along with a layup by Marvin Fitzgerald pulled the Eagles within two, 30-32 to close out the first-half.

       SC State led 32-30 at halftime. Both Clement and Porter had 12 points each during the intermission. North Carolina Central shot a game best at halftime 73% from the free-throw line converting 11-of-15.

Carter stated, “I thought we played an ok level of basketball in the first-half. We did some things and made some adjustments to keep it close.”

      Clement nailed a jumper at the 9:37 mark to give N.C. Central their first lead of the night, 46-45. A dunk by Nick Chasten followed by a layup by senior center Tracey O'Neal gave the Eagles extended their lead to 10, 57-47 with 6:36 left in regulation.

       A 3-pointer by senior Tyvon Williams cut the lead to 10, 65-55 with 2:04 left in the contest. Clement's jumper along with a pair of free-throws with 1:01 left put N.C. Central ahead 18, 74-56. Free-throws seemed to be the deciding factor down the stretch as NCCU shot a team-high 84% from the charity stripe converting 32-of-38 on the night.

      North Carolina Central was also led by senior CJ Wilkerson with 14 points and five rebounds, while Nick Chasten added 11 point and five boards. The Eagles out-rebounded the Bulldogs 33-23 on the night.

      SC State will return to action Tuesday when they travel to the Winston-Salem, N.C. to participate in the 2011 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament during the week of March 7-12.

  --30--