Chiles Game Winner in OT Lifts Morgan State Past VMI
LEXINGTON, Va. - Redshirt-junior Ian Chiles made the biggest shot of his career with a game-winning jump-hook with 2.2 seconds left in overtime to lift the Morgan State Bears to a 81-80 victory over the VMI Keydets Saturday afternoon at Cameron Hall.
The win improved Morgan State's record to 3-3 overall and it marked their second straight win over a Big South Conference opponent, having defeated Liberty on Thursday night.
Chiles' bucket came after the Bears defense forced a tough shot by VMI guard Rodney Glasgow (7 pts, 6 assists). Morgan State Shaquille Duncan pulled down the rebound and the Bears' bench called a timeout with 2.2 seconds left.
Following the timeout, junior forward Thair Heath checked into the game to inbounds the ball. Heath, a former high school football player, completed a full court pass to Chiles. The 7-foot-2 center, who was being defended by VMI guard Brian Brown (5-11), simply caught the pass and turned over his left shoulder with a jump-hook off-glass for the game-winner.
Read the complete story at MorganStateBears.com.
Hornets Top UMES in MEAC Opener
DOVER, Del. - Tahj Tate led three Delaware State players in double figures with a season-high 24 points in the Hornets' 76-66 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore in the MEAC opener for each team in Memorial Hall today.
The Hornets snapped a five-game losing streak to improve to 4-5 overall. Delaware State is 4-0 at home this season. UMES fell to 0-7.
Tate was 10-of-16 from the field and 2-for-2 at the free throw line. Casey Walker added 15 points for the Hornets. His performance was highlighted by five three-point field goals, one short of his career high.
Tyshawn Bell contributed 11 points for DSU.
Delaware State had 10 blocks in the contest, five each for Kendall Gray and Marques Oliver. Gray has 19 blocks in his last five games. The Hornets were fifth among all NCAA Division I teams in blocks at 7.9 per game entering the contest.
The Hornets used a 19-4 run to take control in the first half. Jordan Lawson capped off the spurt with two free throws to give the Hornets a 21-9 lead with 9:27 left in the first half. Walker and Bell nailed two three-pointers each to highlight the run.
Read more at DSUHornets.com.
Howard Drops MEAC Opener to Hampton
HAMPTON, VA - Calvin Thompson scored 10 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, but it was not enough to offset too many turnovers and the scoring of Deron Powers, who poured in 16 of his career-high 22 pointers in the second half as Hampton pulled away to a 58-50 win over Howard University in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener for both teams at the Convocation Center.
With the score tied at 20 at the half, Powers fueled a key 16-6 run midway through the second half that helped the Pirates open the game's biggest lead at 43-33 at the 8:04 mark. The run came at an inopportune time for the undermanned Bison and was spurred by the loss of starting center Alphonso Leary who was ejected from the game at the 11:25 mark of the second half.
Down by 10 and having a poor shooting night (30 percent), the Bison rallied on the scoring of Thompson, who was 10 of 12 from the free throw line. Thompson led a 10-5 run that narrowed the deficit to 55-50 with a little under 2 minutes left.
The Pirates would go on to score the last points of the game while holding Howard scoreless down the stretch.
Read the complete story at Howard-Bison.com.
NCCU OUTDUELS ARCH-RIVAL NC A&T IN MEAC OPENER
VIDEO: Eagles Postgame Report Presented by Tru-Pak Moving Systems (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NTTGEFd3dk)
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Trailing by four with 3:44 to go, the North Carolina Central University men's basketball team went on an 8-0 spurt and used an costly Aggie intentional foul to sprint past the arch-rival Aggies of North Carolina A&T winning a hotly contested ballgame inside the hostile Corbett Sports Center 66-62 on Saturday afternoon in the MEAC opener for each squad.
In the 140th meeting between these two programs there were 16 times and 12 lead changes and it started from the tipoff with junior Jeremy Ingram (Charlotte, N.C.) drilling the first of his four three-pointers on the night.
A Jay Copeland (Suffolk, Va.) put-back dunk put the Eagles up 5-2 but the Aggies answered right back with a 4-0 spurt to trail 7-6 with 15:57 remaining in the first frame.
Despite NC A&T shooting a dismal 2-for-14 (14.3%), the Aggies recorded 11 offensive rebounds and forced 10 Eagle turnovers to see the first frame go back-and-forth with nine ties and eight lead changes as the score was knotted up at 25 at the end of the first half. On the other hand, NCCU wasn't much better from the field shooting 9-for-25 (34.6 percent), but the maroon and gray outrebounded 22-to-21 led by Copeland's seven boards in the first frame.
Read more at NCCUEaglePride.com.
Top Ranked Indiana Too Much for Coppin State
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Top-ranked Indiana shot 61.8 percent from the floor in the second half and the Hoosiers went on to post an 87-51 victory over Coppin State on Saturday in Assembly Hall.
Coppin State, which was playing its first ever game against the No. 1 team in the nation, trailed 33-19 at halftime but couldn't slow down the Hoosiers (8-0) in the second half. Indiana made 21-of-34 shots from the floor, including 6-of-13 three-pointers, to outscore the Eagles 54-32 in the second period.
Victor Oladipo and Will Sheehey each scored 14 points to lead Indiana, while Christian Watford and Remy Abell added 10 points each for the Hoosiers.
Sophomore Taariq Cephas had a season-high 13 points to lead Coppin State, while Michael Murray had nine points and 12 rebounds. It marked the sixth consecutive double-figure rebounding game for Murray, which is the longest in CSU history since Larry Stewart reached double figures in rebounding in 13 consecutive games during the 1990-91 season.
Coppin State (1-6) shot just 33.9 percent from the floor for the game.
Read more at CoppinStateSports.com.