IOWA CITY, Iowa – Three players scored in double figures Friday evening for the Hampton University men's basketball team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but the Pirates dropped their season opener to Iowa 90-56.
 
Redshirt junior guard Dwight Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) paced the Pirates with 14 points, going 6-for-11 from the floor, while guard Quinton Chievous (Chicago, Ill.) had 12 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in his Hampton debut.
 
Junior guard Brian Darden (Hampton, Va.) added 10 points off the bench.
 
A jumper from Darden at the 16:53 mark of the first half tied the game at 6-6, before Iowa scored the next seven points to take a 13-6 lead. The Hawkeyes got out to a 19-9 lead, before the Pirates (0-1) scored six straight to cut the lead to 19-15 after a fastbreak layup from Chievous at the 10:22 mark.
 
Iowa responded with an 11-0 run, taking a 30-15 lead, before Hampton scored five straight to cut the gap to 30-20 with 7:33 left in the half after Meikle hit a jumper in transition.
 
But the Hawkeyes closed the half on a 23-8 run, going into the intermission with a 53-28 lead. That lead came, in large part, because Iowa shot 52.9 percent (18-for-34) from the floor in the first half.
 
Chievous led the Pirates with 10 points at the break.
 
A jumper from Meikle with 16:21 left to play cut Iowa's lead to 58-32, before the Hawkeyes went on a 15-6 run to take a 73-38 lead.
 
A pair of free throws from junior guard Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.) with 7:35 to play cut Iowa's lead to 73-46, but that was as close as the Pirates got the remainder of the night; Iowa went on a 17-6 run to take its largest lead of the night, 88-52, with 2:39 left.
 
The Pirates shot 33.9 percent (20-for-59) from the floor and hit four of 18 3-pointers (22.2 percent). Hampton had a better night at the free throw line (12-for-17, 70.6 percent) than the Hawkeyes (23-for-33, 69.7 percent).
 
Aaron White led five Hawkeyes (1-0) in double figures with 19 points.
 
The Pirates will head to Syracuse, N.Y. on Sunday to take on the Orange at 4 p.m. live on ESPNU as the 2K Classic continues. 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.