The biggest contributors during Wednesday night’s slate of games, and a look ahead at Thursday’s contests.
The former junior college star scored a season-high 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting and added three blocks as Hampton (7-7, 1-0) held off North Carolina A&T 64-57 in the teams’ MEAC opener. It may have been a breakout performance by Brown, who shot 49.7 percent at Walters State Community College in 2014-15 but was at 26.6 percent through 13 games at Hampton heading into Wednesday’s contest.
One of four Spartans in double figures, Roberts finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks as NSU (7-7, 1-0 MEAC) kicked off MEAC play with a 56-47 win at Morgan State. The Bears, who came in ranked 343rd of 344 Division I teams in field goal percentage (29.9 percent), connected at a 22.9 percent clip Wednesday and were stuck in the teens until a late fourth-quarter flurry.
The Lady Pirates scoring ace notched 20 points and moved into second place on the MEAC all-time scoring list in the victory over North Carolina A&T 64-57. Tate-DeFreitas currently stands at 2,181 career points – former Howard star Alisha Hill had 2,179 – and will now take aim at Howard’s Saadia Doyle, who tops the league’s all-time scoring list with 2,310 points.
In other action Wednesday, Atlantic 10 preseason favorite Saint Louis rolled over George Mason 89-50. It was the second straight blowout victory for the Billikens (12-3, 2-0), who stomped Davidson by 37 on Saturday. Kara Wright’s 14 points led the Patriots (9-7, 2-1).
Chapter One of the crosstown showdown. The Rams have won two in a row thanks in large part to the play of forward Curteeona Brelove, who went for 19 points and 14 rebounds last week against Brown and posted a career-high 20 points Sunday against A-10 rival La Salle. Richmond, which lost its first three, won its next four and then lost four straight, is now on a three-game winning streak. A fickle shooting touch is behind the Spiders’ roller-coaster results. Lately, the shots have been falling.
The Cavaliers committed 27 turnovers in Monday’s 54-46 loss at Syracuse, which leads the ACC in turnovers forced. The league’s No. 2 team in that category? Louisville (20.5). Two years ago, the Cavaliers upset a Cardinals team that was also ranked No. 8 in the final game of the regular season. Louisville posted comfortable victories in both meetings last season.
Old Dominion’s first home game since Dec. 18; the Lady Monarchs went 1-4 in the five road/neutral site games since. They are 5-1 at the Constant Center. Fourth-quarter fades have been an issue of late for Old Dominion, The most recent example came Sunday when North Texas used an 11-0 run inside the final five minutes to break a 50-50 tie and claim a 10-point victory.
Finally, happy birthday to Liberty freshman Lela Sellers, who on Tuesday gave herself an early present with a career-high 21 points in a victory over Charleston Southern. Sellers’ previous high was nine points (twice).