Hubbard, Jackson lift Bears past UTSA in opener, 71-59

Box Score Boxscore

NORFOLK, Va. – Morgan State controlled the pace throughout most of the game against the RoadRunners of the University of Texas San Antonio, but the Bears had to hold on to a 10-point cushion down the stretch to come away with a 71-59 victory on Friday night at the Liberty Tax Classic hosted by Old Dominion University.

It marked the Bears first season-opener victory since defeating Loyola Marymount 81-79 during the 2010-11 season.

“I'm obviously happy about getting the win and starting the season off on a good note,” said MSU coach Todd Bozeman. “I'm happy for our guys.”

“There were some good things, but there were also some things that we need to work to improve on. So early in the season, I guess you can understand having high turnovers, but not really 24. There's not many games you're going to win where you commit 24 turnovers and miss 13 free throws. But we did have an exceptional night rebounding."

Anthony Hubbard, in his first action as a Bear, collected a solid double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds in 35 minutes of action. DeWayne Jackson posted 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. MSU dominated the glass by outrebounding the RoadRunners by a commanding 52-26 margin.

Morgan State (1-0) had balanced scoring on the night and shot 47 percent from the field, including 14-of-26 (53 percent) shooting in the first half.

Kannon Burrage finished with a game-high18 points, and UTSA was limited to just 32 percent shooting (18-55 FG). Michael Hale III added 15.

The Bears came out strong during the early going and scored off their offensive sets and off of Roadrunner turnovers. After Jackson scored on a putback basket with 15:20 on the clock, the Bears used a 10-0 run and got a jumper from Anthony Hubbard to give his team a 19-8 lead with 10:58 remaining in the first half. UTSA trimmed the lead to 22-18 behind the 3-point shooting of Burrage and Tyler Wood.

It took a while, but from that point forward the combination of Hubbard and Jackson helped the Bears rebuild the lead. Jackson scored 9 points during a stretch during an 11-1 run and his 3-pointer gave the Bears a 31-18 lead with 6 minutes left in the half. The Bears largest lead of the game was 40-21 just before intermission.

UTSA trimmed the Bears advantage to 50-44 at the 13:51 mark of the second half, but was never able to get any closer.

"I was proud of the guys for meeting the energy and enthusiasm of Texas-San Antonio in the first half, and then pretty much maintained the lead for the rest of the game," said Bozeman. "We have a way to go. We had some guys that came in and did some good things for us. It's a good start.”

The Bears will face host Old Dominion on Saturday night (Nov. 10) in Day Two action of the Liberty Tax Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

Bear Bits

DeWayne Jackson became Morgan State's No. 16 all-time leading scorer following his 15 point outing against UTSA. Jackson has recorded 1,171 career points and moved past Billy Newton (1,169 points) on the school's all-time scoring list

Justin Black added 12 points, four steals and three assists for the Bears

UTSA scored 27 points off of 24 turnovers by Morgan State

Ian Chiles posted a career-high 12 rebounds, with 8 points and three blocked shots

MSU shot 59 percent (19-32) from the free throw line

The Bears shot 2-of-6 from 3-point territory

Donte Pretlow scored 7 points in 8 minutes of action

It was the Bears first neutral court victory since defeating Bethune-Cookman on March 11, 2011 in the Semi-Finals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament.

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