Freshman guard Joseph McLean leads Bears with career-high 21 points.
Boxscore
Bryant Matthews scored a game-high 36 points to lead Virginia Tech to a 76-66 victory against a competitive Morgan State squad on Monday night in front of 5,580 fans at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, VA.
The Hokies improved to 3-1, while the Bears slide to 1-2 on the season.
Morgan State built a six point lead early in the first half before the Hokies went on a 10-0 run to take a 26-16 lead. The Bears, however, answered with a 14-0 run and took a 30-26 lead on a basket by Reggie Winkfield. Morgan State clung to a, 37-36, halftime lead.
The Bears shot a sizzling 60 percent in the first stanza, but during the second half Tech’s defense stiffened.
The Bears were unable to keep the lead in the second half of play as the Hokies used a 20-5 run to blow the game wide open. Meanwhile, Morgan State’s offense stalled and scored just a single basket in the first 8:25 of the second half.
Morgan State shot 31 percent in the second half.
Matthews, a 6-foot-7 small forward, scored 18 points in each half and hit 14 of 22 shots from the floor for the game.
The Hokies also got solid production from freshman guard Jamron Gordon who had 12 points, 8 rebounds, seven steals and 6 assists.
The Hokies shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half and outrebounded a much smaller Morgan State team 42-29.
Morgan had four players score in double-figures. Newcomer Joseph McLean led the Bears with a career-high 21 points. McLean shot 7-for-9 from the field and was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
Senior guard Cedrick Barrow had his best game of the season with 15 points, while Reggie Winkfield and Aaron Andrews scored 13 and 10 respectively.
Morgan’s next game is December 4th in an exhibition game against Team Champion in Hill Field House.
