When North Carolina A&T; edged Coppin State six weeks ago in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both teams, the message to the Eagles was clear: Don't expect a repeat of last year. Don't expect to walk through the MEAC unchallenged.
In their rematch with the Aggies yesterday at the Coppin Center, the Eagles -- particularly senior guard Sidney Goodman -- looked like a team that had not forgotten that loss, which snapped their 32-game regular-season MEAC winning streak.
Goodman scored a career-high 33 points, highlighted by a school-record 19-for-19 performance at the foul line, and Coppin State's tenacious man-to-man defense took care of the rest in an 80-60 whipping of the Aggies.
The Eagles had their share of trouble with MEAC opponents in January, but they are stumbling no more. Besides winning for the 13th straight time and extending the nation's longest home winning streak to 29, Coppin State (16-8, 13-1) routed the Aggies (10-13, 8-5) in a way that suggests they have firmly re-established themselves as the class of the conference as the MEAC tournament approaches.
The Eagles have beaten their last seven MEAC opponents by an average of 19 points. They can clinch the tournament's top seed tomorrow night with a victory over second-place South Carolina State.
"I wanted to send a message to them [N.C. A&T;]," said Goodman.
In addition to his free-throw perfection, Goodman hit all four of his three-point attempts and made five of seven shots overall. He also grabbed four rebounds, and recorded three steals, three assists and a blocked shot in 38 minutes.
"We want them to know we're ready, come tournament-time," Goodman said. "We're at that point where we're like a steamroller, the way we're putting the hammer on people. It was a great team effort, especially on defense -- denying the ball, great man-to-man, good help."
After spotting the Aggies a 22-17 lead with 6:25 left in the first half, Coppin State's swarming defense shut down the Aggies and the Eagles rallied behind Goodman to take a 31-22 halftime lead.
Then, down came the hammer. The Eagles scored the first eight points of the second half to take a 39-22 lead with 18:17 to go, and North Carolina A&T; would get no closer than 11.
"There's no question that Sidney took charge," said Coppin State coach Fang Mitchell. "He is a competitor. He knows they beat us before, and he doesn't want to hear any more about it. The offensive consistency still isn't there, but I see tremendous strides in the way we're playing as a team. You can see the defensive intensity. When it comes time to concentrate and take care of things, they get it done."
The Aggies were hurt by forward John Floyd's foul trouble. Their leading scorer, Floyd sat for the final 17 minutes of the first half with two fouls. He finished with a team-high 12 points in 18 minutes, but most of his production came too late to be meaningful.
But he wasn't the only one to struggle against the Eagles' defense. Coppin State forced 19 turnovers and limited the Aggies to 37.7 percent shooting from the field, the sixth time in seven games that the Eagles held an opponent under 40 percent shooting.
Defense also turned the game in Coppin State's favor early, when its offense went into one of its customary funks. After taking a 14-9 lead on a three-pointer by Allen Watson with 13:30 left in the half, the Eagles managed only two baskets the rest of the half. During that futility, the Aggies took a 22-17 lead on Tarik Beasley's three-pointer with 6:25 to go.
For the next 8 1/2 minutes, though, Coppin State stuffed the Aggies, and Goodman revived the offense. He started the 14-0 run that ended the first half with two free throws. By halftime, Stephen Stewart, Keith Carmichael and Michael Thomas -- three of the Eagles' four top scorers -- had a combined two points, although Coppin State held a nine-point lead.
Goodman converted four free throws in the first minute of the second half to spark an 8-0 run. Later, his three-pointer made it 47-32. And after A&T; cut the lead to 47-36 on a four-point spurt by Floyd, Goodman and Stewart (16 points) took over, combining for all but two points during a decisive 20-7 run. After banking in a 12-footer, Goodman fed Stewart for a layup that made it 67-43 with 4:12 to go.