Boubacar Coly had a solid performance by leading the Bears with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Boxscore
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- The Morgan State men’s basketball team opened the 2006-07 season with a hard-fought 86-67 loss to East Carolina on Saturday evening in Greenville, N.C.
Five players scored double figures to lead East Carolina to the win, extending the Pirates' streak of season-opening victories to seven.
Darrell Jenkins recorded a double-double in his first game as a Pirate, netting a game-high 22 points and dishing out 12 assists. Gabe Blair scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while Jeremy Ingram came off the bench to also score 13 points.
Head coach Todd Bozeman made quite an impression in his head coaching debut, as the Bears pestered the Pirates for most of the night, especially in the first half.
ECU (1-0) jumped out to an early 16-6 lead behind the strength of four 3-point field goals, three by Jenkins and one by Courtney Captain. Morgan State (0-1) answered with a 10-0 run of its own to tie the game before surging ahead by seven, 34-27, with under five minutes remaining in the first half.
Taylor Gagnon scored five straight points before Ingram drained a 3-pointer to put the Pirates on top at halftime, clinging to a 44-42 lead.
The Pirates clung to a slim lead through the first 5:39 of the second half before senior Joseph McLean gave the Bears a one-point lead, 54-53.
ECU then scored eight straight points to build a seven-point lead and used a 24-8 run to build a 15-point lead, 77-62, with 4:48 remaining.
After yielding 42 first half points, the East Carolina held Morgan State to just 25 points after intermission and 38.1 percent shooting from the floor (8-of-21).
The Pirates shot 51.6 percent from the floor (32-of-62) and 42.9 percent from the behind the arc (9-of-21).
Boubacar Coly recorded a double-double to lead Morgan State with 20 points (6-12 FG) and 14 rebounds. Reggie Holmes added 17 points (6-10 FG) and Ronald Timus netted 12 with five rebounds.
MSU returns to action on Tuesday, November 14, at American. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Bender Arena.
