Bears Pound Eagles on the Ground, 34-22 - Morgan State University Athletics

Box Score DURHAM, N.C. -- The Bears were rested, rejuvenated and ready after a week off, arriving here Saturday hoping to spoil North Carolina Central's Homecoming festivities and win back to back games for the first time since 2012.

It turned out to be exactly what happened.

After the victory two weeks ago against Florida A&M – there seemed to be a sense that a turnaround might be plausible. After all, Donald Hill-Eley and Co. had 14 days between games to evaluate what wasn't working. The dinged-up players had time to get healthy. Everyone had the chance to press the reset button. And it all spelled doom for the Eagles.

Morgan State piled up the yards behind an offensive line that helped spoil North Carolina Central's homecoming festivities.

Lamont Brown III rushed for 98 yards and scored a touchdown and the Bears racked up 385 yards in a 34-22 dominant victory over the Eagles.

"We got another win and it feels good," said senior center Clarence Swain. "We set a goal after bye week – we have six (wins) in a row that we have to get to win a MEAC championship. This is just step one out of six. Our saying on the O-line is we're in starvation; we're never full. This was just a little bite and we're still hungry."

The Bears beefy line paved the way for a season-high 288 yards on the ground.

"We figure that pound-for-pound our guys can block anybody," said MSU head coach Donald Hill-Eley.

"They showed today that these big kids are durable and they get to wearing on you. Karim Barton and those guys set the tone and we were getting about 4 yards per carry."

Morgan State (2-5, 2-1 MEAC) silenced the sellout homecoming crowd early on by outscoring the Eagles 21-0. It was the first double-digit lead to start a game for the Bears this season.

"The guys were really up to it today," Hill said. "We jumped up 21 points in the first quarter, and then we had a little letdown in our special teams, but we were still able to keep it out of reach."

Morgan State scored its first touchdown after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty helped setup 1^st and 10 from the NCCU 17. Three plays later Lamont Brown III scored on a 6-yard run capping an 8-play, 75-yard drive.

NCCU quarterback Jordan Reid was intercepted by Paul Eatman to end the Eagles first drive of the game. Seth Higgins converted the turnover into points when he broke a couple of tackles for an 11-yard TD run. Chris Moller's extra point helped give the Bears a 14-0 advantage.

Higgins had completed 5 of 8 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown. He also had nine carries for 55 yards and a score before leaving the game late in the first half with an injury.

Morgan State linebacker Chris Robinson forced a fumble by Reid in the backfield and Cody Acker recovered the ball on the Eagles 42. The Bears used the second forced turnover to extend the lead when Higgins broke free of a sure sack and tossed a 27-yd TD pass to Graylin Harrison to lift the Bears to a 21-0 lead to close the first quarter.

NCCU's Phillip Barren returned the ensuing kickoff 61 yards to give the Eagles its best field position of the game. A faskmask penalty on Paul Eatman setup a 1^st & goal for the Eagles at the 9. Reid raced in for the Eagles first score of the game. The point after by Oleg Parent trimmed the Bears lead to 21-7 with 14:17 left in the half.

The Eagles lit up the scoreboard when Oleg Parent connected on a 41-yd field goal to cut the lead to 21-10 with 9:29 remaining before half.

The Bears drove the ball to the NCCU 1 yardline, but had to settle for a field goal by Moller to give Morgan State a 24-10 halftime lead.

Acker recovered his second fumble of the game to setup a 27-yard field goal by Moller in the third quarter. Robert Council engineered a 6 minute, 66-yard drive capped by a 4-yard TD run to extend the lead to 34-10 with 10:45 left to play.

Council finished with 58 yards on 11 carries and threw for 25 yards (2 of 3).

NCCU's Adrian Wilkins returned the ensuing kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to 34-16 (10:29), and Malcomb Bell tossed a touchdown pass to DeMario Johnson in the back of the endzone to end the game's scoring.

Notes
* For the second game in a row the Bears completed a game without a single turnover

* Morgan State returned to the second half without their starting quarterback Seth Higgins due to a right shoulder injury suffered just before the end of the 1^st half

* Paul Eatman recorded a pair of interceptions

* Cody Acker recorded a pair of fumble recoveries

* The 64 rush attempts marked the most rushing attempts by the Bears since playing against Buffalo (60) in 2011

* The three rushing touchdowns was the most by Morgan State since playing Howard in 2012

* The Bears defense limited the Eagles to 44 rushing yards, it was the least amount of yards allowed by the Bears since holding Delaware State to 2 yards in 2011

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