Morgan State University Athletics

Boxscore

Bear Shots

BALTMORE, Md. – Morgan State suffered a disappointing one-point loss at home to North Carolina A&T on Saturday, and bounced back with a win against another team from the Tar Heel state on Monday night.
 
Larry Bastfield scored a career-high 20 points in leading the Morgan State Bears to a 71-64 win over the Eagles of North Carolina Central.
 
Bastfield, the Bears' senior starting point guard, made 7 of 14 field goals to notch the most points he had scored since posting 15 points against N.C. A&T on January 31, 2011.
 
“Obviously it's good to get a win,” said MSU coach Todd Bozeman. “I thought they [N.C. Central] were a tough team, tenacious, and they junked the game up by trapping all over the place, so that means you really have to focus in, and the guys responded.”
 
“I thought Larry [Bastfield] did a good job.,” said Bozeman. “He was aggressive and attacking, and that's what you have to do, although I didn't like his turnovers (8 turnovers), but I did like the fact that he was aggressive with the ball.”
 
Kevin Thompson scored 13 and had five rebounds and three blocked shots for the Bears who improved to 4-12 overall and 2-3 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Ameer Ali and Aric Brooks added 11 points apiece.
 
Dominique Sutton had 16 points and eight rebounds and Ray Willis added 16 points for N.C. Central (9-9, 3-2 MEAC). The Eagles shot 39.6 percent (21-53) from the field, and went 2 of 14 from 3-point territory. 

NCCU trailed 37-32 at the break and opened the second half on a 9-0 run. Ebuka Anyaorah's 3-pointer and a pair of free throws by Sutton gave the Eagles a 42-41 advantage. But MSU junior DeWayne Jackson answered with a 3-pointer off-glance to help ignite an 11-1 spurt to give the Bears a 48-42 lead with 13:11 to go.
 
The Eagles cut the lead to 50-48 (12:04), before Bastfield hit a 3-pointer and collected a steal and raced coast-to-coast for a layup and a 58-50 lead with 8:09 minutes remaining. The Eagles went almost 7 minutes without scoring a basket, while the Bears stretched the lead to 66-56 (3:40) and was able to hold off NCCU in the end.

Gamenote
MSU entered the ballgame without its 7-foot-2 center Ian Chiles who was sidelined due to illness.