All-MEAC swingman DeWayne Jackson
Boxscore
Bear Shots
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The great shooting that Morgan State displayed in the past two MEAC tournament games came to a screeching halt in the second half. Hampton got some timely baskets from Darrion Pellum to help the Pirates beat the Bears 60-55 in the MEAC Tournament Championship game at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The fact that MSU center Kevin Thompson got into foul trouble was a huge factor in how the game went. Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman said about the situation, “We need him on the floor, that's obvious. He fought hard in there, it's hard when you're at the disadvantage.”
“It was a war,” Hampton head coach Ed Joyner said. “It was what we expected, it's the one we wanted to win.”
In the first half, Morgan State shut down standout guard Darrion Pellum. They didn't allow him to score a point. Even with that, the Pirates got off to a good start in the game. Hampton (24-8) outscored the Bears 10-2 in the game's first five minutes. A three from Brandon Tunnell, who led the Pirates with 20 points this afternoon, punctuated the run with 15:36 remaining.
Morgan State (17-14) was able to get back into the game off the shooting hand of DeWayne Jackson who scored 13 of his game high 25 points in the first half. A lay-up by Jackson gave the Bears a 29-26 advantage with 1:23 remaining.
The Bears led 29-28 at the half.
After that, the Bears stayed ahead during the early going of the second half. The Bears led 37-34 on a three-point play from Jackson with 15:59 left. Then the Bears went through some troubles when they missed 12 consecutive baskets during a stretch of 8:34. Hampton took advantage by scoring 12 consecutive points. Most of those points came from the combination of Pellum and Tunnel. Pellum stepped up and scored all of his 12 points in the second half. A lay-up from Funches with 8:24 left gave the Pirates a 46-37 lead.
“Sometimes the ball didn't go in the basket," explained Jackson about the stretch, "but we really weren't worried about our offense, it was our defense.”
“Defense got us this far," Pellum said about the run. "Some teams are based on offense, we're bred on defense.”
Morgan responded with a 10-2 run after that. They got within 48-47 on a driving lay-up from Jackson with 3:34 left.
With a chance to take the lead, Thompson turned the ball over inside the paint with 2:48 left. Hampton immediately drove to the hoop and attacked. That led to the Pirates hitting clutch free throws, plus a basket from Tunnell to stretch the lead to 55-49 with 46 seconds left.
Thompson only recorded eight points and brought down 15 rebounds. Hampton planned to be physical with Thompson in this game.
“Kevin's a great player,” praised Joyner. “We were going to show them we weren't going to lie down. Even if we have to lay down 45 fouls to show we're not going to give up the inside.”
On the issue of Kevin being double teamed, Coach Bozeman said, “It makes it tough. I felt his frustration and I just tried to get him to keep his composure.”
Aric Brooks was fouled with 41 seconds left beyond the three-point arc. He hit all three from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 55-52. Then Tunnell was fouled by Bastfield on an in-bounds play with 35 seconds left, leading to a couple of free throws that he nailed.
Jackson responded with a three-pointer with 26 seconds left to cut the deficit to 57-55. Jackson fouled Tunnell again on the in-bounds play. He delivered again with 19 seconds left, draining two free throws.
A three-point shot was short from the Bears and it was all but over at that point. Funches hit one of two free throws to seal the deal with 10 seconds left.
With the win, Hampton earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Pellum was named to the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while Joyner was named the Most Outstanding Coach. Jackson, Pellum, Morgan, Thompson and Kyle O'Quinn of Norfolk State were named to the All-Tournament team.
