Eagles Hand Bulldogs, 71-56, Setback

Senior forward Joe Ikhinmwin poured in a career-high 21 points in the loss.

Box Score DURHAM, NC—The South Carolina State Bulldogs (5-20 overall, 0-11 MEAC) in search of their first conference win of the season, once again came up short suffering a 71-56 setback to NC Central (13-12 overall, 7-5 MEAC) Monday at McDougald-McLendon Gym.
        NC Central celebrating “Senior Night” was led by senior forward Dominique Sutton with a team-high 20 points and seven rebounds, while teammate Ray Willis added 18 points and eight rebounds in the victory.
       Senior forward Joe Ikhinmwin led the Bulldogs with a game-high 21 points and five rebounds, while junior point guard Khalif Toombs chipped in 11.
       NCCU jumped out to an early 12-point lead, 22-10, off a monster dunk by Sutton at the 10:59 mark in the first half. Junior guard Justin Leemow increased the Eagles lead to 17, 31-14, with 5:55 left in the half.
        Junior guard Aaron Martin's 3-pointer with 1:22 left cut the lead to 11, 36-25. NC Central came right back with guard Jeremy Ingram nailing a 3-pointer, followed by a Willis driving layup with 0:36 seconds left to push the lead to 16, 41-25 to close out the first half.
       The Eagles out rebounded the Bulldogs 24-10 in the first half, along with shooting 80% from the charity stripe going 8-of-10.
       NCCU jumped out to their biggest lead of the night 20, 51-31, off another 3-pointer by Ingram at the 15:49 mark in the second half. Ikhinmwin's layup with 9:58 remaining pulled the Bulldogs within 12, 58-46.
       That would be the closest margin SC State would manage on the night as Sutton tossed in his final basket of the night to extend the lead to 19, 71-52. Toombs hit a pair of free-throws along with a layup in the closing seconds of the game.
        NC Central held on to defeat SC State 71-55 for their last home game of the season. Guard Jeremy Ingram also finished with 13 points in the victory for the Eagles.
       Both teams had rough nights of controlling with the turnovers with SC State finishing with 18 and NC Central 17. The Eagles dominated the Bulldogs on the boards 40-25, while also outscoring their bench 36-7.
        SC State will begin its final home-stand of the season beginning this Saturday, Feb. 18 when they host Bethune-Cookman at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs will then host Florida A&M (Feb. 21) and North Carolina A&T (Feb. 25) before closing out the four-game home stand against North Carolina Central on Feb. 27. SC State will close out the 2012 regular season on Thursday, March 1 at Delaware State.
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