HAMPTON, Va. (Dec. 3, 2024) … The Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) schedule doesn't get into high gear until Jan. 2 when the Pirates play at Charleston. But Pirate fans got a sneak preview of the CAA competition when Hampton hosted longtime rival North Carolina A&T at the Hampton Convocation Center.

Hampton fell behind the Aggies by 11 points in both the first and second halves before rallying for an 82-71 triumph over their CAA foes. The result was in stark contrast to last year when North Carolina A&T won both games, each by just one point.

Neither team could find the bottom of the net in the early-going. Hampton missed its first seven shots ---five field goal attempts and two free throws. George Beal hit a three-pointer with 17:10 to go for Hampton's first points. The Pirates then made six of their next seven shots to take a 15-11 lead.

But an 11-0 run by the Aggies put them back on top, 22-15 with 10:59 remaining in the half. Beale's three-pointer ended the run and the Pirates closed to 33-29 with 3:28 left on a Tyler Rice jumper. A 7-1 A&T run at the end of the half made the score 42-34.

Rice finished the half with 10 points while A&T's Ryan Forrest and Landan Glasper each scored 11 points to lead North Carolina A&T. The Pirates shot 36 percent from the field in the opening half while the hot-shooting Aggies made 63 percent of their field goal attempts. The Pirates were outrebounded in the opening half 22-14.

The Pirates fell behind by 11, 51-40 with 15:14 to go. But a 19-9 Hampton run closed the gap to 60-59 after an Etienne Strothers field goal and free throw. Hampton's Xzavier Long made a free throw with 8:17 left to tie the score 60-60. Two missed North Carolina A&T free throws followed by Long's free throw put the Pirates ahead 61-60, their first lead since early in the contest. Daniel Johnson boosted Hampton's lead with a bucket and free throw with 6:37 to go to up the lead to 64-60.

In all, Hampton went on a 22-7 run over 8:22 to led 68-62 with 3:42 left.

The Aggies went without a field goal for 8:45 before Nikolaos Chitikoudis made a lay-up with 2:21 left. Hampton made its free throws down the stretch making all 10 attempts in the final 2:35.

The Pirate bench chipped in 52 points in the win and George Beal had a career-high 25 points to lead all scorers. Rice tied his career-high with 17. For A&T, Glasper tallied 19 while Chitikoudis and Forrest each had 15.

The game was the first of a three-game homestand for Hampton. The Pirates host Apprentice School on Dec. 10 followed by a game with Regent on Dec. 18.