Bears Clinch Second Straight Regular Season Title
For the second consecutive season the Morgan State Bears have clinched the MEAC men’s basketball regular season title. The Bears, who currently boast a 12-3 conference mark and 19-11 over record, will enter the 2009 MEAC Basketball tournament as the number one seed.
The Bears received 15 first place votes to garner the league’s top vote in the MEAC’s preseason poll. MSU earned their first regular season MEAC title last year with a 14-2 MEAC record and 22-11 overall mark.
The MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off March 10-14 at the LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Delaware State at Morgan State
Hornets Drop Fourth-Straight to Regular Season Champions, 64-50
BALTIMORE, Md.? The Delaware State Men’s Basketball Team (7-23, 5-10 MEAC) dropped its fourth-straight game, losing to the Morgan State Bears (19-11, 12-3 MEAC), 64-50, on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Hill Field House. The loss marked the fifth-straight to the Bears and the Hornets’ 10th conference loss of the season.
Morgan State had three players in double figures. Reggie Holmes scored 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting (4-of-7 from the free-throw line). Jermaine Bolden notched 12 point on 5-of-8 shooting and Marquise Kately tallied 10 points, shooting 5-of-8 from the floor. Leading the Bears in rebounding was Kevin Thompson, who notched a game-high eight rebounds.
The Hornets were led by Fred Bouie, who scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor. Frisco Sandidge and Trevor Welcher each recorded five rebounds to lead the team. Greg Smith and Donald Johnson poured in eight points each to round out the team’s leading scorers.
Morgan State opened the second half with a 14-4 run through the first six minutes. The run extended the Bears lead to 18 points after Kevin Thompson converted a layup with 14:24 left in the game. DSU cut the Morgan State lead to 11 points following an 8-2 run which was capped off by a Bouie 3-pointer with 5:33 left in the game. However, the Hornets were unable to cut the lead to single digits, falling to the 2008-09 MEAC Regular Season Champions, 64-50.
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Bethune-Cookman at South Carolina State
SC State Drops Bethune-Cookman 65-53
ORANGEBURG, SC?Senior center Jason Johnson recorded his 12th double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds as South Carolina State cruised to a 65-53 victory over Bethune-Cookman Saturday at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.
The Wildcats were led by freshman C.J Reed with 19 points, while senior John Holmes tossed in 15 points in the loss.
The Bulldogs controlled the first-half jumping out to their biggest lead of the half 15, 22-7 at the 8:53 mark off a 3-pointer by Kensha Johnson. The Wildcats cut the lead to seven, 24-17 on a tip-in by Kene Anusionwu with 5:50 left in the half.
SC State started the second-half just like the first pushing the lead to 17, 38-21 off a tip-in by Westley Telfare at the 17:32 mark. A 3-pointer by C.J. Reed would bring Bethune-Cookman with nine, 44-35 with 9:52 left in the game.
The Wildcats pulled within six, 54-48 off a layup by Jerry Jones with 4:32 left. Free-throws would be the deciding factor down the stretch as South Carolina State hit 10-18 from the line to clinch a 65-53 victory over Bethune-Cookman.
Senior Jessie Burton, Freshman Jimmy Williams, and sophomore Westley Telfare all chipped in 13 each in the victory.
South Carolina State improves to 14-13 on the season and 9-6 in the MEAC, while Bethune-Cookman drops to 14-15 overall, 8-7 in the league.
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Maryland E. Shore at Coppin State
UMES Falls to Coppin State, 79-57
Baltimore, Md. - Coppin State freshman Michael Harper tied his career high with 22 points to lead five players in double figures as the Eagles defeated Maryland Eastern Shore Saturday at the Coppin Center.
Harper finished the game 7-of-13 from the floor, including making 5-of-10 three-point attempts, to lead the Eagles to their ninth victory in the past 11 games.
Coppin State (12-17, 9-6 MEAC) shot 49.1 percent from the floor and committed only eight turnovers in defeating UMES for the sixth straight time in the Coppin Center.
The Eagles also received 14 points from Mike Buckley and Lenny Young, while Tywain McKee had 12 points and Brian Chesnut scored 11.
Maryland Eastern Shore (7-21, 3-12 MEAC) was led by Chris Conner who scored 18 points and Neal Pitt who had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
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Howard at North Carolina A&T
Aggies Use Second Half Rally To Defeat Bison
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Dwane Joseph scored 13 of his game-high 18 points in the first half but it was Robert Johnson and Thomas Coleman who spearheaded a second half rally that helped North Carolina A&T get by Howard, 69-59 at Corbett Sports Arena. The win was the eighth straight for the streaking Aggies (16-13 overall, 9-5 in the MEAC) while the Bison fell to 8-20 overall and 6-8 in the MEAC.
NC A&T set the tone for the second half on the first basket by Johnson that gave it its first lead of the game at 34-33. The Aggies then began to get scoring from Coleman and Tavarus Alston, who tallied five of his seven after intermission.
The Bison rallied to regain the lead at 52-47 on the scoring of Myatt and Kandi Mukole but the Aggies turned up the heat again and parlayed some Howard turnovers into a 16-1 run over a five-minute stretch that proved to be the difference.
Coleman was especially effective on the defensive end with some key blocks on Bison field goal attempts. The Aggies defensive forced 24 Howard turnovers for the game that resulted in 26 of their points.
Myatt, who was coming off a 41-point performance in the win over Coppin State, led the Bison with 15. Riley tallied 11 and Mukole recorded a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Joshua led the Aggies with 18 and six different players scored six or more points as NC A&T's reserves outscored the Bison, 34-12.
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Hampton at Norfolk State
Deloach Leads NSU to Season Sweep of Hampton, 90-68
Norfolk, Va. - Michael Deloach scored 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead an offensive onslaught for Norfolk State, which rolled to a 90-68 win over Hampton on Saturday evening before 4,192 fans at Echols Hall.
Deloach scored the first 14 points for the Spartans (9-17, 7-7 MEAC), who broke their four-game losing streak and swept the regular-season series from the Pirates (13-15, 6-8) for the first time since 2005-06. NSU’s 22-point win was the largest for the Spartans over HU since NSU moved to Division I, and the largest overall since an 80-56 win in the 1981-82 season.
The Spartans led by as many as 34 points in the second half. Deloach added eight quick points after halftime and departed with nine and a half minutes left. He also had four assists and four rebounds.
James Williams added a career-high 14 points. He was 4-of-5 from behind the arc for NSU, which finished with 12 3-pointers, one shy of the school record. Kyle O’Quinn added 11 points and Kevin Worsley 10. Aleek Pauline scored seven points and dished out a career-high 12 assists. NSU ended the game shooting 59.6 percent (34-of-57).
Darrion Pellum had 14 points and Donte Harrison 10 for the Pirates, who shot 39.7 percent from the floor.
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Florida A&M at Winston-Salem State
Rattlers Slips Past Rams
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. ? Five minutes of play without a field goal proved to be the Rams’ undoing on Saturday evening as the Florida A&M University Rattlers mounted a 14-2 run midway through the second half of play and turned a two-point WSSU advantage into a 12-point advantage of their own as FAMU earned a hard-fought 71-69 victory at Joel Coliseum.
Brandon Bryant and Lamar Twitty each recorded 20 points for the Rattlers.
Jamarcus McClinton led the Rams with 12 points in the loss as he led a trio of players in double-figure scoring. Paul Davis and Brandon Hobbs each chipped in with 11 points and Brian Fisher and Jamal Durham each added 10.
The loss drops the Rams to 8-19 overall while the Rattlers improve to 9-18 (6-8 MEAC) on the season with the victory.
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