Hampton University’s men started slowly Thursday in their Kids Day matinee and saw their comebacks attempted thwarted as the College of Charleston won 85-71 before 1,012 at the HU Convocation Center.
Martin Kalu scored 21 points for the Cougars (20-10, 13-4 Coastal Athletic Association). HU (12-17, 6-10) got 14 points and nine rebounds from Xzavier Long, 13 points from Daniel Johnson and 12 points from Josh Ogundele but lost its fourth consecutive game as it continues to struggle with health.
“We had a hard time getting into the flow of the game,” coach Ivan Thomas said on hamptonpirates.com. “We have a couple of guys coming back from injuries and we didn’t get into the rhythm in the first half. We battled and we fought and we were able to get back into the game, but we didn’t have our usual defensive intensity.”
Charleston bolted to leads of 6-0, 27-12 and 35-17. The Pirates made a 7-1 run late in the first half, and Johnson’s steal and coast-to-coast layup cut the halftime deficit to 42-30.
An Ogundele 3-pointer close the gap to 44-35 with 18:30 to go, but Charleston reasserted control with a 17-6 surge to move ahead 61-41 at the 14:23 mark.
The Pirates used a 10-0 run to pull to 76-68 with 3:17 remaining but got no closer. Hampton will celebrate seven seniors at 7 p.m. Saturday against Northeastern.
No. 13 Michigan State 76, No. 8 Purdue 74: Carson Cooper scored 15 points, Kur Teng had 13 and Michigan State survived Braden Smith’s missed 3-point attempt with a second to play in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Jeremy Fears Jr. added 12 and Coen Carr had 11 for the Spartans (23-5, 13-4 Big Ten), who snapped a seven-game losing streak at Purdue (22-6, 12-5).
Smith, who became the fifth player in Division I history to reach 1,000 career assists, finished with 12 points and 10 assists for Purdue. Jack Benter had 11 points for the Boilermakers.
Trailing 76-74, Purdue’s Trey Kaufman-Renn missed a chance to tie it with a jumper in the lane with 8 seconds left. Michigan State’s Cam Ward missed the front end of one-and-one. The Boilermakers got the rebound and called timeout with 3.4 seconds left to set up the final shot.
The three all-time assist leaders are from ACC Triangle rivals: Duke’s Bobby Hurley (1,076), NC State’s Chris Corchiani (1,038) and North Carolina’s Ed Cota (1,030). Smith soon figures to pass No. 4 Jason Brickman, who had 1,007 for Long Island from 2011-14.
Kennesaw State 74, Liberty 65: RJ Johnson’s 25 points, five assists and three steals for the Owls (17-11, 9-8 Conference USA) led them past the Flames (23-5, 15-2) in Georgia. Frankquon Sherman scored 18 points and added nine rebounds for KSU, which led for the final 17 minutes.
Brett Decker Jr. led Liberty with 15 points. Liberty also got 14 points and four steals from JJ Harper, plus 11 points from Colin Porter.
Radford 71, USC Upstate 59: Lukas Walls had 16 points and five rebounds for the Highlanders (16-14, 9-6 Big South) in their home win. Del Jones added 14 points and Dennis Parker Jr. had 11.
Carmelo Adkins led the Spartans (12-18, 4-11) with 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but shot 5 of 20.
Samford 80, VMI 61: Dylan Faulkner’s 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs (17-13, 10-7 Southern Conference) in Birmingham, Alabama, sent the Keydets (6-24, 1-16 on the way to their 15th consecutive loss). Keaton Norris scored 17 points while his brother Cade had 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Tan Yildizoglu led VMI with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists. TJ Johnson added 11 points, six rebounds and two steals.
College of Charleston men spoil Hampton’s early start
