Tag: North Carolina Central Eagles

Former Duke safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith commits to North Carolina Central

Less than an hour after wide receiver Mehki Wall committed to North Carolina Central, former Duke safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith also joined the Eagles.

Former Duke safety Isaiah Fisher-Smith announced his commitment to North Carolina Central through social media on Wednesday.

Fisher-Smith spent four seasons with the Blue Devils starting in 2020. Across his time in Durham, he racked up 29 total tackles and a pass deflection. His most productive season came as a sophomore in 2021 when he recorded 15 tackles, including three against both North Carolina A&T and Kansas.

A former three-star prospect, Fisher-Smith was 247Sports’ 82nd-ranked safety in the Class of 2020.

Fisher-Smith wasn’t the only Blue Devil to join the Eagles on Wednesday. Less than an hour before the safety announced his commitment, former Duke wide receiver Mehki Wall also declared he would join NCCU next season. Wall spent two seasons with Duke, redshirting in 2022 before catching six passes last season.

https://twitter.com/IsaiahfisherSm1/status/1786144476831879462

Fisher-Smith and Wall became the first Duke transfers since the Blue & White Game to commit to a new program. Five other Blue Devils have entered the portal since the spring scrimmage.

Photos: LSU basketball takes down North Carolina Central 67-57

The Tigers are 9-1 on the year after Tuesday night’s win.

The Tigers are no stranger to close games, and Tuesday night’s 67-57 win over the North Carolina Central Eagles was no different.

After a back-and-forth first half that saw 10 lead changes, LSU managed to pull away and take a 14-point lead to the locker room. That wouldn’t last, however, as NCCU — one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation — came out firing in the second half to cut that lead to just four.

Despite struggling offensively in the second half, the Tigers ultimately pulled away thanks to great games from [autotag]Derek Fountain[/autotag] and [autotag]KJ Williams[/autotag], who each notched double-doubles, as well as [autotag]Cam Hayes[/autotag], who scored 14 points but left the game with an injury in the final minutes.

LSU moves to 9-1 to begin the [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] era and will return to the court on Saturday for a game against Winthrop. Here were the best photos from the win over NC Central.

Instant Analysis: Tigers put away sharpshooting NC Central to move to 9-1 on the yar

Double-doubles from KJ Williams and Derek Fountain lifted the Tigers past a good mid-major opponent.

LSU avoided a letdown after its impressive comeback win against Wake Forest, taking care of a good mid-major squad in North Carolina Central with a 67-57 win at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday night.

As has been the case for much of the season, though, things didn’t exactly go off without a hitch.

Much of the first half was back-and-forth as the Eagles got off to a great start shooting. They hit 10 of their first 20 shots as the two teams traded the lead 10 times in the opening period. For the first 15+ minutes of the game, neither team led by more than three points.

However, things would cool off for NCCU, who ended the half hitting just 2 of its 10 shots in the final 6:46, including its final five. In the same span, LSU was 5 of 8 as it was able to stretch a 14-point lead into the locker room, largely thanks to Derek Fountain and KJ Williams, who had 15 and 14 points, respectively, in the first 20 minutes.

The Eagles didn’t stay down, though. They’re one of the best teams in the country from three-point range, and they used the long-range shooting to get back in the game over the opening minutes of the half, cutting the Tigers’ lead to four. For the game, NC Central was 46.7% from downtown.

But in spite of a poor second-half offensive performance from LSU, which shot just 35.5%, it was able to pull away in the final minutes. Williams (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Fountain (17 points, 14 rebounds) put on a show in this game, and [autotag]Cam Hayes[/autotag] also scored 14 points.

Hayes would be helped to the locker room after suffering a lower-body injury in the final minutes, and his status moving forward is unclear.

It was close once again, but the Tigers took care of business. They’ll return to the court on Saturday night for a game against Winthrop at the PMAC.

[mm-video type=video id=01gkspkgbhtpzbq3j1kt playlist_id=01eqbz5s7cf4w69e0n player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gkspkgbhtpzbq3j1kt/01gkspkgbhtpzbq3j1kt-ffdb53d43f5c24cc4e73ff16b3681eab.jpg]

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