Raleigh, N.C. – Matt Pilgrim led four Hampton players in double figures with a game-high 21 points and eight rebounds to lift the Pirates to a 76-61 victory over Howard in the first round of the 2007 MEAC Basketball Tournament at the RBC Center in Raleigh.  The seventh seeded Pirates (15-15) shot a season-high 60 percent from the field, and 53 percent from three-point range to advance to Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup against second seeded Florida A&M. 

 

Hampton swept the Rattlers during the regular season with a pair of two-point victories, including a 74-72 overtime win at Hampton and a 76-74 decision in Tallahassee.   

 

Hampton dominated the first half defensively using a combination of a 2-3 and a 1-2-2 zone to hold the Bison (9-22) without a field goal for the first 10:19.  By the time Howard’s Darryl Hudson sank a jumper from the wing the Pirates were ahead 16-7. 

 

On the flip side the Pirates were clicking on all cylinders in the opening frame with Rashad West and Junior Pehoua knocking down threes from the outside, while Pilgrim and Mike Freeman did damage on the interior.  West scored nine first half points with the final three giving Hampton a 14-point advantage, 39-25, at the half.  Howard went into the locker room shooting a dismal 25 percent (5-of-20), but the Bison remained within striking distance by going 12-of-17 from the line.

 

“Coming in we felt like we needed to get back to playing Hampton basketball,” said Pirate coach Kevin Nickelberry.  “We wanted to get the ball to our big three (West, Pilgrim, Freeman) and have them lead us and they did just that.  We felt that Howard couldn’t score with us if we got the ball to our main guys.”

 

After launching 14 three-pointers in the first half Hampton concentrated on pounding the ball inside to Freeman and Pilgrim down the stretch, taking advantage of Howard’s four-guard lineup.  The freshmen duo combined for 22 points after intermission on an array of dunks and layups that increased the Pirates’ lead to as many as 22 points.

 

The Bison showed why they led the MEAC in three-pointers per game by using the long ball to keep the contest interesting.  Darek Mitchell and Will Gant combined for six threes and Hudson got into the action with a three-pointer from the top of the key to trim the Pirate lead to 66-54 with 3:10 remaining.

 

However, a Freeman dunk and some clutch free throw shooting by Hampton allowed the Pirates to sustain the double digit lead.

 

Freeman finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds, and West totaled 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from behind the arc to surpass the 1,000 point mark for his career.  In doing so he becomes just the 23^rd player at Hampton to accomplish the feat.

 

The Bison had four players in double figures as well led by Hudson’s 15 and 14 from Mitchell, but neither could prevent Howard from ending the year on a six-game skid.