Aric Brooks hits game-winning free throws against Robert Morris on Thursday night.
Boxscore
BALTIMORE, Md. --
Aric Brooks hit two free throws with 13.4 seconds left that turned out to be the difference in Morgan State's 67-66 victory over Robert Morris at Hill Field House tonight.
"When I brought the ball across half court, I was waiting for one of the guards to come get the ball because we were going to set a play up,” Brooks explained about the final seconds. “But they were being denied, so I just wanted to attack the basket and the referee called a foul. You know the rest of the story."
Brooks and
DeWayne Jackson were the only Bears to score in double figures in the game. Jackson led everyone with 25 points, while Brooks followed with 13.
Morgan State (5-6) took control early using a 15-0 run in the first half. Down 7-4, Jackson scored 11 of the 15 points, including a three-point play with 13:22 left to give the Bears a 19-7 advantage.
"We were aggressive, and we got to stay aggressive,” said MSU head coach
Todd Bozeman. “That's something that we have to continue to work on. So we'll keep grinding it out."
The Colonials were able to get out of the doldrums and cut the Morgan advantage to 29-25 on a lay-up by Deion Turman with 1:16 left, but the Bears took a 34-28 lead into halftime.
Robert Morris (4-8) used their quickness on offense to eventually tie the game at 42 on a Lijah Thompson lay-up with 11:51 left. Yet the Colonials couldn't take advantage of numerous opportunities a little later on with missed free throws and three point shots that fell short of the mark. Morgan State retook the lead 44-42 on an
Ameer Ali layup with 9:59 left.
RMU still had plenty of chances to turn the momentum around in their favor. However, the Colonials just couldn't capitalize on numerous shots inside the paint.
RMU head coach Andrew Toole talked about it. "I can't imagine the number of lay-ups that we missed. I would have to say it's in the double digits just off my recollection right now. We're going to go back and watch the film and we'll get an exact number. But we left a ton of points out on the table. We just didn't execute the way we needed to offensively."
Even with their poor shooting, the Colonials finally took the lead on a Thompson dunk with 22 seconds left off an assist from Karon Abraham.
After that, Brooks made the critical decision and pushed the ball up the court, which led to the game winning free throws.
RMU had one more chance at it, but Velton Jones, who led RMU with 15 points, drove to the hoop and missed a lay-up attempt with 1.3 seconds left. Jackson came down with the rebound and the win for the Bears.
Morgan starts the new year on January 4 with a trip to Waco, Texas for a battle with No. 23 Baylor, before going into Mod-Eastern Athletic Conference play next Saturday against Howard at Hill Field House.
