Morgan State University Athletics

Boxscore

Bear Shots

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 19, 2009)-Blake Griffin scored a game-high 28 points and hauled down 13 rebounds to earn a double-double, while brother Taylor Griffin added 18 points and Willie Warren finished with 16 points to guide second-ranked Oklahoma to an 82-54 victory over No. 15 Morgan State on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Sprint Center.

Going into the contest, Morgan State knew stopping Blake Griffin was probably not going to happen and containing him would be just as hard. But if it could perhaps limit his touches and force Griffin into some bad shot, then it might have a chance. Neither would happen – and coupled with the fact that Morgan's shots were not falling – proved to be too much for the Bears, who had their five-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the second time in their last 15 games.

Morgan State (23-12), which was making the school's first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance, was led by #Reggie Holmes#, who scored a team-high 14 points, while #Marquise Kately# fell shy of a double-double with 11 points and a team-leading nine rebounds. #Rogers Barnes# along with #Rodney Stokes#, who was 4-for-4 from the field, each finished with nine points for the Bears.

The Bears stayed close through the first two media timeouts, trailing Oklahoma, 6-3 and 12-7, before using a 4-0 run to pull within 11-12, following back-to-back baskets by Kately and a steal and layup by #Ameer Ali# with 10:20 remaining in the opening half.

The No. 2 ranked Sooners (28-5) woke up and countered with a 9-0 spurt to take a 21-11 advantage and force a Morgan State timeout before the third media break. Morgan State cut the deficit to 23-17 after a steal and jumper by Holmes with 5:32 left in the half, but the Sooners would close out the half with a 17-4 run, including nine straight points to extend their cushion to 40-21 at the break.

The Sooners began the second period with a 10-4 run to increase their lead to 50-25 after a dunk by Juan Pattillo with 16:10 at the 16:10 mark.

Morgan State put together its best stretch of basketball, using an 11-5 run, in which Holmes connected on two three-pointers to cut the Oklahoma lead to 58-44, following a layup by Kately with 8:20 left in the contest.

However, the Bears would again have trouble scoring and suffered yet another scoreless drought, while Oklahoma went on a 17-5 spurt to increase its lead to 77-49, its largest of the game, with 2:08 remaining.

Much of the presence of Blake Griffin down low, along with help from his brother, Taylor, helped the Sooners hold a 40-24 scoring advantage over Morgan State in the paint. The Bears, despite being outrebounded 45-36, with 38 of Oklahoma's 45 rebounds coming on the defensive end, managed to outscore the Sooners 22-8 in second chance points.

Morgan State however, shot 28 percent (22-of-77) from the floor, including 6-of-23 from three-point range and connected on 4-of-8 from the free throw line. The Sooners connected on 29-of-48 (60 percent) for the game, including 4-of-12 from beyond the three-point arc. Oklahoma also shot 24 more free throws than Morgan State, finishing 20-for-32 (63 percent) from the charity stripe.

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Note:

STATEMENT FROM MORGAN STATE MEN'S BASKETBALL STUDENT-ATHLETE AMEER ALI, REGARDING INCIDENT WITH OKLAHOMA SOONER STUDENT-ATHLETE BLAKE GRIFFIN.

"It was an unfortunate incident that occurred during the heat of competition. It was not my intention to hurt him, myself or anyone else. I hope that he's alright, and i wish him and his teammates good luck with the rest of the tournament. Blake is an outstanding player and a tremendous competitor."
 

Bear Claws

- While Morgan State was making the school's first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance, it was the fourth tournament appearance for head coach Todd Bozeman and his first since 1996, when he was the head coach at the University of California.

- Morgan State's Jermaine "Itchy" Bolden was held scoreless in the game on 0-for-6 shooting. Bolden, who had two rebounds, finished with a team-high four assists to give him 252 during his two year career at Morgan State.

- The Bears fell to 0-2 all-time against members of the Big 12 conference. Prior to its meeting against Oklahoma, Morgan State suffered a 64-35 loss to Nebraska during the 2004-05 season.