NC Central finishes 16-0 by beating NC A&T 69-58

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Jordan Parks, Nimrod Hilliard and Anthony McDonald combined to score 54 points and North Carolina Central closed out an undefeated Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference season with a 69-58 win Thursday night.

NC Central (24-6, 16-0) captured its second consecutive MEAC title and first with an undefeated conference record. The Eagles now have a first-round bye in the MEAC tournament and will face the winner of a first-round game between the No. 8 and 9 seeds in the quarterfinals on March 11.

NCA&T cut the lead to four, 54-50 with six minutes to play, but Hilliard got the Eagles back on track, finding Karamo Jawara for a jumper, then Dante Holmes for a 3-pointer and Parks for a jumper that pushed the lead to 62-54 with 2:32 left.

Parks finished with 21 points, Hilliard 17 and McDonald 16 for NC Central.

Bruce Beckford scored 17 and Ahmad Abdullah 16 for NC A&T.