Junior guard Reggie Holmes paced the Bears with a game-high 19 points and 5 rebounds.
Boxscore
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Reggie Holmes scored 19 points and Joseph Morgan chipped in 10 points as the Morgan State Bears were upended by the Red Flash of Saint Francis-Pa. 65-61 Monday night at Hill Field House.
The Red Flash (2-4) handed Morgan State its fourth consecutive loss and also ended the Bears' 15-game home winning streak.
The Bears went (2-6) 12-0 last year at home, en route to their first MEAC regular season and have not been defeated at home since atwo-point loss to Hampton on Feb. 20, 2007.
Morgan State looked disinterested and flat and the Red Flash capitalized by jumping out to an early lead. Devin Sweetney's layup gave the Red Flash an 12-2 advantage at the 15:46 mark of the first half.
St. Francis ended up controlled the pace throughout most of the night and never trailed in the contest.
Sweetney finished with a double-double by posting 19 points (7-13 FG) and a game-high 12 rebounds, while Marquis Ford added 16 points (6-8 FG) and Mislav Jukic had 11 points.
The Bears trailed 30-23 at the intermission.
The Bears shot 35 percent from the field and went 6-for-24 (.250) from beyond the arc, while the Red Flash shot a blistering 60.5 percent from the floor (23-38 FG) and held a 34-31 advantage on the glass.
Kevin Thompson who entered the ball game as the Bears third leading scorer (9.4 ppg), was held scoreless and finished with five rebounds.
St. Francis held their largest lead at 39-27 when Ford knocked down a jumper with 14:57 left in the game. Morgan State responded with a 14-4 run ignited primarily from the energetic play of the Bears bench.
Marquise Kately fed Joseph Morgan an alley-oop dunk and Rogers Barnes hit the front end of a 1-and-1 to trim St. Francis' lead to 43-39 with 10:08 remaining.
Morgan State continued to stay close down the stretch and a 3-pointer by Holmes cut the lead to 61-59 with 29.9 seconds left. St. Francis then made 3-o- 4 free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the win.
St. Francis shot 65.2 percent (15-23) from the stripe, while the Bears struggled from the line connecting on 13-of-23 (56.5%).
"I thought that the play that signified the whole game was the first defensive possession,” said MSU coach Todd Bozeman. “We get our hand on the ball, nobody sees it and then they get a three-pointer. That right there told the whole story. It just set a tone and I just didn't think that our guys had any energy. They weren't ready to play."
"It's all about the little things. You got to take responsibility. It's not a one game season when you lose. Look at all kinds of sports. Little things make the difference."
