BALTIMORE, Md. -- The Morgan State men's basketball season came to an end last Thursday night when the No. 2 seeded Oklahoma Sooners downed the Bears, the No. 15 seed in the South region, 82-54 at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.
Despite the loss, the Bears posted its best season in its proud history. One year after winning its first MEAC regular season title in 30 years and playing in its first postseason play as a member of Division I (NIT) MSU won 23 games, the most in the schools Division I history. Only one other team (1973-74; 28 as a member of Division II) won more games.
MSU recorded its first MEAC championship since 1977, marking its second in school history. Bozeman also became the first coach to win back-to-back regular season titles, the first to win a conference title and the first to guide his team to back-to-back postseason tournaments, including the school's first appearance in the NIT and the NCAA 'Big Dance'. Bozeman became one of a small group of coaches to compete in tournament games at two different schools (Cal and Morgan State).
Bozeman guided the Bears to a 13-3 conference record and 23-12 overall mark and was selected for the second consecutive season as the MEAC Coach of the Year. In his third year at the helm, Bozeman recorded non-conference wins over Marshall, Maryland and DePaul and ranked 23rd in Mid-Major Top 25 poll. MSU also became the first Historically Black College & University (HBCU) to participate in the ESPN BracketBusters where they defeated Towson (80-64).
Bozeman is a finalist for the 2009 Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award, given to the nation's top mid-major coach. The winner will be presented with the award at the 2009 Final Four in Detroit.
During the 2008-09 season, MSU made a school record 181 three-point field goals in the season, breaking the 1996 record of 153. The team finished just three steals shy of the school record for a season of 234 in 1987.
Reggie Holmes, an All-MEAC first team selection and 2009 MEAC Tournament MVP, led the Bears with 14 points in Kansas City against No. 2 Oklahoma. Holmes finished the season with 587 points, the most points in a single season since 1978-79 (Garcia Hopkins; 642 pts). Holmes also accumulated 1,255 points, good enough for 13th on the all-time career scoring chart. The Baltimore product also holds the single season record for made three-pointers (99) and for career three-pointers (208).
Holmes has one more year, could wind up as one of the top three scorers in MSU history. Holmes' 16.8 final average this season is the best at MSU since Anthony Reid averaged 20.0 points in 1989.
Speaking of chart watching, Jermaine Bolden led the MEAC in assists by averaging 4.9 per game and in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9). "Itchy" wrapped up the Bears' historic season with 170 assists, and captured the school's single-season assist record previously currently held by Lorenzo Hutchinson (146 - 1998). The Baltimore native completed his career ranked 6th among Morgan State's career assist leaders with 252 assists in two seasons.
Marquise Kately will also go down in the history books for the Bears. Kately was a multi-dimensional player for the Bears and was selected to the 2009 All-MEAC Second Team. Kately scored in double figures in 24-of-35 games, and averaged 11.0 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game.The senior finished with 818 points, 388 rebounds, 108 assists and shot 48.2 percent from the field (345-716) in two seasons.
Kately and Holmes were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) First Team All-District in a vote by its members and they are now eligible for the NABC's All-America Team. In 2008-09, the NABC realigned its districts by conference so student-athletes selected to the District 15 First and Second Teams are all from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC).
In his four years, Rogers Barnes went from a walk-on to a starting guard in the NCAA Division I Tournament. Barnes completed his senior season having played in 62 wins during his career. The Columbia (Md.) native scored 515 points, including 157 assists and 99 steals since the 2005-06 season.
