Senior guard Troy Smith sparked the Bears in the first half against the Hawks.
Boxscore
Bear Shots
BALTIMORE, Md. – Reggie Holmes scored 25 points to help the first-place ranked Bears rout Maryland-Eastern Shore 91-54 on Monday night, a victory that extended the Bears winning streak to six straight.
The Bears also improved to 5-0 at home and have strung together eight consecutive victories at Hill Field House since last season when they captured the 2009 MEAC Title and earned a No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Holmes, the sixth-leading scorer in the nation at 22.8 points per game coming in, scored 25 points in 27 minutes and led the Bears on the glass with eight rebounds to go along with three steals.
Troy Smith scored 15 first half points for Morgan State (14-7, 6-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference), which dominated from the opening tip. The Bears led 16-2 following a 3-pointer by Sean Thomas less than eight minutes into the ballgame. Morgan State led 45-22 at halftime.
"Troy's energy really helped us get going early," said Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman after the Bears' 11th straight MEAC victory over two seasons. "His energy lately has been a key for us."
From there, the lead only grew, including a number of transition scores that pushed the Bears to a 69-34 lead when Kevin Thompson scored in the post with 12:48 remaining in the ballgame.
Morgan State led by as many as 39 points, handing the Hawks (5-14, 3-3 MEAC) their second worst loss of the season. The Hawks were defeated by 41 points (87-46) at Wright State on Dec. 19.
Morgan State shot 48 percent, and hit 8 of 22 3-point attempts and finished with a 47-45 edge in rebounds. More importantly, the Bears completely shut down UMES' offense early to take the big lead and didn't let the Hawks have much room to operate after that.
UMES shot 29 percent, including 4-for-16 from 3-point range.
Tonight marked the Bears' largest margin of victory since dropping the UMES last season in Princess Anne (Md.) by 35 points (87-52).
Neal Pitt scored 14 points to lead UMES, but the rest of the team shot 13-for-47 (27 percent) for the game.
Morgan State's bench outscored the Hawks by a 38-19 margin and scored 19 points off of fast break baskets.
The Bears will travel to take on the Spartans of Norfolk State on Saturday, January 30. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. The Bears have won 3 out of the last 4 contests against the Spartans, including an 89-63 victory in last season's MEAC Championship game.
-30-
