Hamilton Breaks Rebound Record as Huskers Win 65-47

Lincoln--Cookie Belcher had five of his 13 points during a 12-2 second-half run as the Nebraska men's basketball team defeated North Carolina A&T, 65-47, in front of 9,117 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday afternoon.

Senior forward Andy Markowski led three Huskers in double figures with a game-high 15 points and nine rebounds as Nebraska improved to 3-2 on the season. Belcher finished with 13 points and four assists, while Vanon Hamilton finished with 10 points and nine rebounds. With his nine rebounds, Hamilton passed Leroy Chalk (1969-71) for the most rebounds in school history. Hamilton now has 787 rebounds in his four-year career

The Huskers led from wire to wire, building as much as a 22 point lead before cruising to victory. Nebraska held North Carolina A&T (1-3) to 30 percent from the field and forced 15 turnovers.

Bruce Jenkins led the Aggies with 13 points, while Jonathan Richmond finished with 12 markers.

The Huskers return to action this Tuesday, Dec. 1, as the Huskers play host to Tulsa beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Nebraska Coach Danny Nee

On Venson Hamilton
I was very pleased with Venson Hamilton, both with his offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding. That record stood for a long time and Venson still has a lot of games ahead of him so he can add a lot more to his record. He is really a great rebounder

On the team's perfromance
We were just trying to keep getting better and better. We still have some things to work
on. Our defense was very solid. We were getting what we wanted most of the night. The players are recognizing the mistakes we made and they want to correct them.

Nebraska Center Venson Hamilton
On the record
It is a very big accomplishment. Some day I will look bck and say how hard I worked to get all those rebounds. In practice, they call me the rebounding man.

North Carolina A&T Coach Roy Thomas

On the game
Nebraska played well. When you shoot 25 percent from the free throw line and 30 percent from the field, then you get the kind of results we got today.

On the play of his team
We had a great first half but nothing in the second. I thought they played a decent game, but we just missed shots. We had good shots, but we missed. We need to learn to execute and make our shots.