University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
6-11
North Carolina A&T
5-11
Upstate Wins Third Straight, Tops North Carolina A&T 78-68
1/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Spartanburg, S.C. – Mike Cunningham scored a career-high 19 points, and Michael Buchanan picked up his first double-double of the season, as the USC Upstate men's basketball team won its third straight game Tuesday evening with a 78-68 victory over the North Carolina A&T Aggies to close out non-conference play.
Upstate improves to 6-11 on the season heading into its A-Sun opener Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. against conference newcomer NJIT. With the loss, North Carolina A&T drops to 5-11 overall.
Cunningham compiled eight of the Spartans final 11 points and finished the game shooting 6-of-10 overall and 5-of-8 from three. Buchanan added a season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, while setting a new career-high in assists for the second straight game with five. Josh Cuthbertson and Deion Holmes each had 12 points.
Khary Doby and Sam Hunt both led the Aggies with a team-high 17 points, and Doby pulled down six rebounds.
Cuthbertson hit on three consecutive three-pointers during the game's opening four minutes as Upstate led 12-9 at the 16:20 mark after a triple by Cunningham. Cuthbertson's fourth three of the game put the Spartans in front 20-13 less than three minutes later. Cunningham would give Upstate a 25-15 advantage with 12:41 left following his three, but North Carolina A&T responded with eight straight points to get to within three, 25-22, with 11:06 to go.
Holmes answered with a three and Buchanan followed with a layup as the Spartans went back in front 30-22 with 9:57 remaining. Malik Moore would give Upstate its largest lead of the half when his triple at the 4:58 mark made the score 37-26.
The Aggies held the Spartans to one point after that as they finished the half on a 7-1 run. Deion James collected four of those points with his last cutting North Carolina A&T's deficit to 37-33 with 33 seconds left before intermission. Upstate led 38-33 at the half when Buchanan, with one second on the clock, made one free throw.
Buchanan and Schulte combined for the first six points of the second half for the Spartans as they pushed their lead back to 44-35 at the 17:41 mark. The Aggies managed to trim Upstate's lead down to one, 53-52, with 10:19 left on a jumper by Ahmad Abdullah, only to see the Spartans come back with five straight points on a pair of free throws by Philip Whittington and a three from Cunningham.
Upstate led by as many as nine, 62-53, after that at the 7:35 mark when Holmes connected on a jumper. North Carolina A&T used a 12-3 run over the next 3:34 to tie the game for the first time since the 16:36 mark of the first half when Hunt's three put the score at 65-65.
Cunningham would then score eight of the Spartans next 11 points with his first six coming on back-to-back three's as Upstate led 73-68 with less than 1:30 remaining in the game. Buchanan's free throw with 19 seconds left sealed the 78-68 win for the Spartans.
Upstate finished the game shooting 50.9% (28-of-55) as a team highlighted by a 52.2% (12-of-23) mark from three. The Aggies were 42.6% (26-of-61) overall and went 9-for-11 at the charity stripe for an 81.8% clip.
The Spartans outscored North Carolina A&T 26-22 in the paint, 13-10 in second chance points, 6-5 in fast break points and 14-11 in points from the bench.
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