Joe Davis helped keep the Bears close in the final minutes against South Carolina State on Monday night.
Boxscore
Bear Shots
BALTIMORE, Md. – South Carolina State's Jason Flagler was knocking down shot after shot while Morgan State fans watched as the Bears fell at home for the first time in nearly a year.
Jason Flagler scored a game-high 24 points and the Bulldogs shot a blistering 57.1 percent from the field to help drop the Bears 71-68 at Hill Field House on Monday night in an ESPNU televised game. The loss stopped Morgan State's 10-game winning streak, and halted the Bears' 12-game regular season conference win streak.
It was also Morgan State's first home loss since Feb. 23, 2009 when the Bears dropped a 49-47 decision at Hampton.
Darnell Porter hit a free throw that gave the Bulldogs their largest lead of the game at 64-52 with 6:39 to left to go. But Morgan State put together one final run and almost sent the game into overtime when a pair of 3-point shots missed in the final seconds.
Reggie Holmes, who entered the game ranked among the nation's leaders in scoring (22.9 ppg), fouled out in the final minute of the ballgame with 17 points, but the Bears still got to within 70-68 on a runner by Joe Davis with 21 seconds left.
Both teams missed free throws in the final minute.
The Bulldogs shot 57.1 percent (16-28) from the field in the first half, and remarkably shot the exact same percentage in the second half (57.1 pct; 12-21).
"You can't take credit away from them," Bozeman said. "But we didn't defend. We came out in the second half and still didn't defend. It's something that's been nagging at us for awhile."
Down two, DeWayne Jackson fouled Khalif Toombs with 19 seconds left and the Bulldogs' point guard hit the second of two free throws for a three-point lead. It was the last successful foul shot of the game.
Joe Davis (13 points) missed the front end of a 1-and-1 at 15 seconds and then missed two more at 9.5. The Bears got a break when Brandon Smalls fell out of bounds with the rebound, giving Morgan (19-8, 10-1) one last chance.
But Davis missed a 3-pointer from the right side. In the mad scramble that ensued, Kevin Thompson rebounded and got the ball to Troy Smith on the left side, but Smith's shot missed the mark, too.
Thompson collected his 16th double-double of the season by finishing with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Sean Thomas and DeWayne Jackson added eight points apiece.
The Bears shot just 45.6 percent for the game and only 22.2 percent from beyond the arc.
"Even with that, we still had a chance at the end," Bozeman said. "We have nobody to blame but ourselves. ? How we respond will tell whether this hurts them [his players] or not. How they come back to practice tomorrow will tell me."
