HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University men's basketball team staged a furious comeback in the second half Monday night at the HU Convocation Center, but North Carolina Central held on for the 68-64 win in both teams' regular-season finale.

The Pirates (14-16, 11-5 MEAC) head into the MEAC Tournament having won nine of their last 12 games.

Junior guard/forward Du'Vaughn Maxwell (Manhattan, N.Y.) and freshman guard Dwight Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) each led the way with 16 points, while Maxwell added nine rebounds. Sophomore center Emmanuel Okoroba (Garland, Texas) added 15 points.

The Pirates found themselves down by as many as 20 points in the second half, but a late 18-2 run had Hampton back in it following a Meikle jumper with 1:12 to play to cut the Eagles' lead to 60-58. Jeremy Ingram stopped the bleeding for the Eagles, though, hitting a 3-pointer from the wing with 41 seconds left, ending the Pirates' run and giving NCCU a 63-58 lead.

Okoroba answered with a layup with 29 seconds to go to cut the lead to 63-60.

But Ray Willis put the game out of reach with a free throw with 27 seconds left to put NCCU up 64-60. After a floater from freshman guard Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.), Willis  hit two free throws with 20 seconds left to give the Eagles a 66-62 lead.

Stanton Kidd added two more free throws to ice the game.

The Pirates led 6-5 with 15:49 left in the first half after back-to-back dunks from Maxwell, before NCCU fought back to take a 14-10 lead at the 11:09 mark on a Stanton Kidd layup. Hampton took a 21-19 lead at the 6:33 mark after Meikle hit two free throws.

But an 8-3 NCCU run gave the Eagles a 29-24 lead with 1:37 left in the half, and the Eagles led 31-26 at the half.

NCCU opened the second half on a 19-4 run, taking a 50-30 lead with 12:35 left in the second half after Kidd hit a jumper. The Pirates scored the next five points and cut that lead to 50-35 with 10:52 left after Okoroba converted a 3-point play.

But NCCU scored five of the next eight points to take a 55-38 lead with 9:56 to play on a Kidd layup. After Okoroba hit two more free throws, Emmanuel Chapman hit a 3-pointer with 9:09 to play to put the Eagles up 58-40.

Meikle scored four straight points, including a trey, to cut the lead to 58-44 with 7:07 left, then hit another 3-pointer at the 6:27 mark to cut NCCU's lead to 60-47. Meikle hit another jumper at the 4:52 mark to cut the Eagles' lead to 60-50.

In all, Meikle scored nine out of 10 points for the Pirates during that stretch.

Maxwell hit a stickback with 3:51 left to extend Hampton's run to 12-2 and cut NCCU's lead to 60-52. Another Maxwell stickback with 2:58 left cut the Eagles' lead to 60-54 and forced NCCU to call a timeout.

The Pirates shot 39.7 percent (23-for-58) from the floor and made four of their 13 3-pointers (30.8 percent) and 14 of their 20 free throws (70.0 percent). Hampton out-rebounded the Eagles 41-39 and out-scored NCCU 39-8 off the bench.

NCCU (22-8, 15-1 MEAC) shot 39.3 percent (24-for-61) from the floor and hit six of 15 3-pointers (40.0 percent). The Eagles were just 14-for-22 (63.6 percent) from the free throw line.

Kidd led the Eagles with 21 points.

The Pirates will play in the quarterfinals of the MEAC Tournament on Thursday at Norfolk Scope, taking on the winning of the No. 6-No. 11 first-round match-up at 6 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.