Nic Simpson scored 21 points and North Carolina A&T defeated Howard 65-55 on Tuesday night in the first round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.
James Porter added 12 points for the ninth-seeded Aggies (11-21), who snapped a four-game losing streak to advance to play top-seeded Morgan State on Wednesday night.
North Carolina A&T led 31-30 at halftime and Simpson went 7-for-8 from the line to help the Aggies go 26 of 39 (66.7 percent).
The Aggies shot 34 percent from the field (18 of 53) for the game.
Thomas Coleman added nine points and 14 rebounds for North Carolina A&T, which lost both regular-season meetings with eighth-seeded Howard (7-25).
Curtis White and Paul Kirkpatrick scored 12 points each and Dadrian Collins added 10 points for Howard, which finished the season with six consecutive losses.
