Chris Grant scored 14 points (6-17 FG) and grabbed 5 boards.
Boxscore
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Morgan State batteled until the bitter end before falling to cross-town rival Towson 71-69 in double-overtime last night in the consolation game of the Guardians Classic at Ohio State's Value City Arena.
Reserve forward Winstonn Tubbs scored the winning layup from an inbounds play with two seconds left in the second overtime to give the Tigers their first win of the season.
The two teams wree tied at 57 after regulation. With Towson trailing 57-55 and 17 seconds remaining, the Tigers' Lawrence Hamm grabed a missed free throw by Holden Plack and scored on a put-back with 15 seconds to go. With two seconds remaining, Morgan State's Christopher Grant missed a potential game-winning jumper near the left baseline to send the game into its first overtime.
In the first overtime, Morgan State (0-2) took the lead on a three-pointer by Sam Brand with 4:05 to play. Tubbs answered 20 seconds later with a three-poiner of his own to tie at 60 with 3:45 left. The Bears took a 63-60 lead on free throws before Hamm converted another another layup to cut the Morgan State advantage to 63-62 with 2:36 to play.
After another Morgan State free throw, Fletcher hit a jumper to tie the score at 64 as the game extended to the second overtime.
The lead changed five times in the second overtime before Morgan State's Timothy Berkley made one of two free throws to tie the score at 69 before Tubbs' winning basket.
Morgan State coach Butch Beard will have another shot at Towson next week in a rematch Nov. 27 at home.
Towson featured balanced scoring as four players reached double-figures, led by Fletcher's 20 points on 5-for-13 shooting from the field and 8-for-9 from the line. Hamm added 12 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore guard Mike Green netted 16 points with eight rebounds. Brand led all scorers with 21 points, including 4-for-8 on three-pointers.
NOTES: The Tigers shot 35.1 percent (20-for-57) from the field, including 30.0 percent (6-for-20) from beyond the three-point arc … Morgan State shot just 40.0 percent (24-for-60) from the field, including just 5-for-16 (31.3 percent) from beyond the three-point arc …Towson won the battle of the boards, 47-29 … Morgan State’s senior shooting guard Sam Brand (21 pts), senior guard Chris Grant (14 pts) and senior center Aaron Andrews (13 pts) were the only Bears to finish in double-figure … Andrews finished with a game-high seven rebounds before fouling out of the game during regulation … Bear sharpshooter Brand nailed 4-for-8 three-pointers and matched a career-high with 5 assists to lead the Bears ... freshman point guard Timothy Mathis came off the bench and played 19 minutes.
