HAMPTON, Va. – Redshirt junior guard/forward Dwight Meikle had a career day on Sunday against Northern Arizona, his first double-double of the season helping the Pirates leave the HU Convocation Center with a 75-66 win.
 
The Pirates (6-6) have won five of their last six games.
 
Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) scored a career-high 28 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds to lead the Pirates, shooting 10-for-16 from the floor and making three of his four free throws. Junior guard Brian Darden (Hampton, Va.) and guard Quinton Chievous (Chicago, Ill.) each added 10 points.
 
Junior guard Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.) added seven points, seven rebounds, and three assists.
 
The Pirates shot 43.6 percent (24-for-55) from the floor and hit four of their 15 3-pointers (26.7 percent). Hampton was also 23-for-38 (60.5 percent) from the free throw line, on top of turning 22 NAU turnovers into 23 points.
 
Hampton also held a 46-34 edge in bench points and 34-26 in points in the paint.
 
The Lumberjacks led 13-10 at the 11:06 mark of the first half, before the Pirates went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-13 lead at the 9:07 mark after a tip-in from Powers. A layup from Meikle with 8:01 left put the Pirates up 19-14.
 
Ako Kaluna cut the lead to 20-18 with 6:33 left in the half with a jumper, but the Pirates closed the half on an 11-5 run, taking a 31-23 lead after a 3-pointer from Meikle with 46 seconds left.
 
Hampton took that lead into the locker room – thanks to 10 first-half turnovers from the Lumberjacks and the fact that Northern Arizona shot just 9-for-25 (36.0 percent) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.
 
Meikle had 10 points at the break.
 
Hampton scored the first five points of the second half, taking a 36-23 lead with 17:12 left after a jumper from junior guard Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.). A 9-2 run from NAU cut the lead to 38-31 with 14:20 remaining.
 
In fact, the Lumberjacks cut the lead to 42-37 with 11:47 left after Jaleni Neely hit two free throws.
 
Hampton answered with a 12-3 run, taking a 54-40 lead on a 3-pointer from Darden with 8:42 left. The run included a reverse one-hand putback dunk from Meikle – which was the first of three putback dunks for him in the half.
 
His third dunk came at the 7:20 mark to give Hampton a 58-42 lead.
 
Hampton's largest lead of the game came with 5:05 left, when Darden hit a pair of free throws to give the Pirates a 65-47 lead.
 
NAU turned the ball over 12 times in the second half.
 
NAU (4-8) shot just 31.3 percent (20-for-64) from the floor and went just 4-for-22 (18.2 percent) from behind the arc. The Lumberjacks out-rebounded Hampton 48-41.
 
Neely led NAU with 17 points.

The Pirates will hit the road on Monday, Dec. 29 to take on Northern Illinois in DeKalb, Ill. at 8 p.m. EST. 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.