Box Score
BALTIMORE, Md. - Justin Black scored 23 points to lead five Morgan State players in double figures as the Bears defeated High Point 85-74 on Wednesday night at Hill Field House.
The Bears (3-7), led 43-36 at halftime and used a 13-2 run midway through the second half to help extend to their largest lead of 17 points, 72-55, with 9:22 left. The Panthers wouldn't get closer than nine after that.
With the win, Morgan State improved its series record against High Point to 2-0, and the Bears notched its second win in a row.
"I think it was a nice team effort today," said
Justin Black. "Everybody played focused; we had a long layoff, so I think that actually helped us. I thought before the game that it was going to hurt us, but Ian played well, Blake played well today, Hub even got double figures, so it was a good team win."
Black finished the game shooting 8-for-18 from the field and including a game-high six steals to go with three rebounds. Ian Chiles added 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
The Bears (3-7) hit 29 of 57 shots for 50.9 percent, outscoring the Panthers 46-18 in the paint. The Bears also collected 11 steals, six by Black, and scored 23 points off 19 High Point turnovers.
Anthony Hubbard added 13 points and eight boards, while Blake Bozeman added 12 points and Shaquille Duncan had 10.
High Point (3-6), which extended to a four-game losing streak, was paced by John Brown who led all scorers with 26 points and went 14-for-17 from the free throw line. Baltimore native (Dunbar HS) collected a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Morgan State hit 24-of-41 (58 percent) from the free throw line, while High Point shot 82 percent (23-28).
"Right now we're just going to enjoy this," said MSU coach
Todd Bozeman. "We want to work hard, we want to keep growing and take positive steps."
"I thought we took positive steps tonight and I thought we fought through. We did a better job of making our free throws in the second half. I thought Cedric [Blossom] did a great job on the [John] Brown; he's a tremendous player, he normally imposes his will on games and we wanted to make sure that we didn't allow him to do that. I thought the guys did a good job defensively and making our free throws in the second half. That's just us growing and that's what we want to keep doing."
The Bears will fly out on Wednesday to begin a 3-game west coast swing to face California-Northridge (Dec. 27), Oregon (Dec. 29) and California-Irvine (Jan. 2).
