Bears Drop Fourth Straight, Fall to Howard 54-46 - Morgan State University Athletics

Boxscore

Bear Shots

BALTIMORE, Md. -- Morgan State came into this game looking to snap a mini-string of heartbreaking losses.

However, the Bears lost their shooting touch in the second half. Morgan State made only three field goals out of 20 attempts in the last 20 minutes and Howard pulled away late in a 54-46 victory over the Bears Monday night at Hill Field House.

Howard started fast, going up 6-1 on a couple of Samuel Frazier three-point baskets with 18:02 remaining. Then Morgan got it going later on with the three-point shooting of DeWayne Jackson, who led Morgan State with 10 points. Jackson hit two straight to pull the Bears within 8-7 with 16:44 remaining. The Bears would go ahead 11-10 on a Kevin Thompson lay-up with 13:32 remaining.

Howard (6-18, 3-8 MEAC)got it together towards the end of the half. Glenn Andrews started with a three-pointer, then Theodore Boyomo converted a lay-up followed by a basket by Alphonso Leary, giving the Bison a 26-21 lead with 2:43 remaining.

But MSU (5-16, 3-7 MEAC) got the last couple of baskets of the half on a Jackson dunk off an Ian Chiles steal. Then after Chiles blocked Brandon Ford's shot attempt, the result ended up in an alley oop pass by Larry Bastfield to Jackson for a thunderous dunk to draw the Bears within 26-25 with 47 seconds left. Howard held that one-point advantage at the half.

In the second half, not much went the way MSU intended. After a couple of Prince Okoroh lay-ups put the Bison ahead 30-25, MSU head coach Todd Bozeman took out all five of his Bears and put in a new five with 18:43 remaining. Okoroh led everyone with 14 points on the night.

It worked for a little while. Thair Heath converted a couple of free throws, then made a lay-up with 17:16 remaining to put the Bears back on top 31-30. “That got us moving," said Bozeman. "I just wanted to have a different group in there. I wanted to have some energy. The group that came off the bench had energy. That's what we needed and they gave it to us."

After Frazier buried a three from the corner, Ameer Ali responded with a three of his own with 13:26 left to put the Bears back ahead 34-33. The problem for MSU was that they went without another field goal for the next 13:06 of the game.

However, Howard struggled to make baskets as well. The Bison hit 6 of 23 field goals in the second half.

Ford made the biggest shot of the night when he nailed a three-pointer from the corner with 3:53 remaining to give Howard a 45-40 advantage. The Bears drew within 45-43 on a pair of Thompson free throws.

But Howard pulled away by making nine of their last 10 free throws in the game.

“We were obviously outplayed, and we have a lot of issues that need to be worked out,” said MSU head coach Todd Bozeman. “You always say that hard work beats talent when talent don't work hard. It's lessons in life that we're learning, and I always tell the guys either your succeeding or learning lessons, and we're learning lessons.”

“I give credit to Howard. They played hard and they're obviously undersized. They came to win, and they did.”

MSU plays at home on Saturday, February 11 when they host MD-Eastern Shore at 4 pm.

Print Friendly Version