Tywain McKee capped one of the most brilliant individual performances in tournament history, scoring on a five-foot floater with three seconds remaining to give Coppin State University a hard-fought, 62-60 win over Morgan State University in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament final at the RBC Center.

The Eagles (16-20), the Number 7 seed earned the conference automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The pairing will be announced on Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

“I was just in a zone and I knew that I had to take over,” said McKee. “I knew I had to somehow get us a basket because I did not want to let my teammates down.”

For Coppin State head coach Ron “Fang” Mitchell, it was an easy decision. “I was contemplating on who to give the ball to, but I have a winner here with great determination,” said Mitchell. “It didn’t even matter. He took it and I thought he actually got fouled.”

Coppin State had to “earn” its way to the final. After getting by Howard in the first round, the Eagles had to knock off the Number 3 (Norfolk State), the Number 2 (Hampton) and the Number 1 (Morgan State) seeds to win the title.

McKee, who poured in a school tournament record 33 points, refused to let his team lose. The junior guard from Philadelphia, PA, hit on 12 of 20 from the field including a sizzling 6 of 8 from three-point range to answer every Morgan State challenge with key basket after key basket.

One play, in particular, defined McKee’s impact on his team and the game: With his team clinging to a one-point lead late, McKee missed a shot attempt that was gathered in by Morgan State’s Boubacar Coly, but as the 6-9 Coly attempted to get the pass out to one of his teammates, the 6-2 McKee took the ball from him and scored on a layup to up the lead to three.

The game was a grind-it-out affair between the two schools who are only miles apart in Baltimore, MD. There were 12 lead changes and eight ties and the biggest lead of the game was seven.

The Bears (22-10), who were the regular season champions and the Number 1 seed, swept the Eagles during the regular season. The Bears came into the game, winning 7 of their last 8 while the Eagles won 12 of their last 13.

Marquis Kately single-handedly carried his team for most of the game, finishing with 21 points, 14 coming in the first 20 minutes. Reggie Holmes rebounded from early foul trouble to score 12 of his 14 in the second half.

“The zone was important as far as containing them, especially when we got into foul trouble,” said Mitchell. “It was a matter of picking your poison. I felt we didn’t do a good job on Kately early on, but as the game got near the end, we went man-to-man.”
But in the final analysis, a combination of too much McKee and poor free-throw shooting dashed the Bears’ hopes of their first ever title. McKee scored 9 of his 19 second half points in the last 2:52. Morgan State hurt itself by missing 9 free throws, most coming in the front end of one-and-one situations.

“It doesn’t hurt that we lost to our crosstown rival; we beat them twice this year and it is hard to beat a team three times,” said Morgan State head coach, Todd Bozeman, the MEAC Coach of the Year, who led the Bears to their first 20-win season in three decades. “I tip my hat to them.”

GAME NOTES: McKee was named tournament MOP while Coly, Tony Murphy of Norfolk State, Kately and Roy Bright were named to the all-tournament team...Coppin State started the season, losing five of its first 19...Morgan State played without the services of MEAC Player of the Year, Jamar Smith, who was hobbled with a high ankle sprain...this is Mitchell’s 22nd season at Coppin State and his fourth MEAC tournament title.