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

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.