DURHAM, N.C. – Quinton Chievous banked a layup off the glass with two seconds left Monday night at McDougald-McLendon Arena, lifting the Hampton University men's basketball team to an 80-79 win over North Carolina Central.
 
In picking up their fifth straight win, the Pirates improved to 10-7 overall and 6-0 in MEAC play.
 
Reginald Johnson, Jr., the reigning MEAC Player of the Week, led the Pirates with 27 points on 7-for-15 shooting – going 4-for-8 from behind the arc and a perfect 9-for-9 at the free throw line. He also had seven rebounds and seven assists.
 
Chievous, the hero late, went 8-for-11 from the floor, scoring 19 points and grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Lawrence Cooks came off the bench to chip in 13 points, all in the second half.
 
Jervon Pressley grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots in 16 minutes of action.
 
The Pirates shot 43.6 percent (24-for-55) from the floor, despite shooting 39.3 percent (11-for-28) in the second half. Hampton was 8-for-21 (38.1 percent) from behind the arc, 24-for-33 (72.7 percent) from the free throw line, and out-rebounded NCCU 34-28.
 
Dante Holmes gave NCCU a 79-78 lead with a 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining. Johnson had a look on the ensuing possession to give the Pirates the lead, but the Eagles came away with the rebound, forcing the Pirates to foul.
 
But DaJuan Graf missed both free throws with nine seconds left. Johnson drew two defenders to the wing on the Pirates' next possession before feeding the ball to Chievous underneath the basket. He banked in the layup to give the Pirates the lead, before Brian Darden stole the ensuing in-bounds pass.
 
Though Darden's momentum carried him out of bounds, giving possession back to NCCU, the Eagles didn't have enough time to mount anything.
 
The Pirates picked up their first win over NCCU since the Eagles joined the MEAC.
 
The Pirates were in control throughout much of the first half – at one point holding a 15-point lead – before taking a 45-37 lead into the intermission. Johnson had 19 points in the first half alone, going 5-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-5 from distance, while Chievous had 10 points at the break.
 
But after Dionte Adams hit two free throws to put Hampton on top 49-39 in the opening moments of the second half, the Eagles made their first run of the night, going on a 13-2 spurt to take a 52-51 lead at the 15:07 mark following a Patrick Cole layup.
 
That was NCCU's first lead since an alley-oop on the game's opening possession.
 
There were four lead changes after Cole's layup, and a Cole free throw at the 9:32 mark put NCCU up 58-57. That free throw kicked off an 8-1 Eagles run, and NCCU led 65-58 with 8:12 remaining after Kyle Benton sank a layup.
 
Enoch Hood added a layup of his own with 6:16 left, putting NCCU up 71-65, but eight unanswered points from the Pirates gave them a 73-71 lead with 3:54 remaining after Cooks converted a 3-point play.
 
Cooks had six of the eight points in that run.
 
Another Cooks layup with 2:57 remaining put the Pirates on top 75-72, and Chievous gave Hampton a 78-76 lead with 44 seconds left when he sank a layup.
 
The Eagles shot 47.1 percent (24-for-51) from the floor – including a 60.0 percent clip (15-for-25) in the second half. NCCU went 6-for-15 (40.0 percent) from 3-point range and hit 25 of its 35 free throws (71.4 percent).
 
NCCU, the preseason favorite to win the MEAC, fell to 7-13 overall and 2-4 in conference play. Cole led four Eagles in double figures with a game-high 28 points.
 
The Pirates will return to the Convocation Center on Saturday to take on Savannah State 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.