BALTIMORE, Md. --  The Coppin State Eagles cruised to an 80-67 victory over cross-town rival Morgan State at Coppin's Physical Education Complex Arena.
 
The victory ended a six game-skid in which Coppin couldn't figure out the Bears, which included the MEAC Tournament semifinals in which MSU trounced the Eagles on their way to a second place finish last March.
 
The Bears hurt themselves at the free throw line this night, only converting 12 of 23 from that area. Morgan State struggled mightily with their shooting early and often as they only hit 10 of 37 first half shots from the field. They weren't even close on some of those shots.
 
Coppin State took advantage for the second straight game as they got off to a 19-7 start in the first half. Only a three-pointer by Blake Bozeman would put the Bears into double digits at 19-10 with 8:51 remaining in the first half.
 
"Coppin played with a lot of energy. But I knew they would." said Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman. "Regardless of records, when you go into the rivalry games, it's always like that."
 
Arnold Fripp hurt the Bears by scoring 14 of his game high 22 points in the first half.
 
Morgan State (4-18, 2-6 MEAC) showed some fight at times in that first half and cut their 12 point deficit to seven on five different occasions in the first half. That included a Cedcric Blossom lay-up off of an offensive rebound of Bozeman's missed jumper with 2:47 left to make it 34-27 in favor of the Eagles.
 
Coppin State (4-17, 3-5 MEAC) responded with a seven point run towards the end of the first half which was punctuated with a Dallas Gary dunk over Cliff Cornish to extend the Eagle advantage to 41-27 with 50 seconds left. That sent the PEC arena into a frenzy. Coppin led at halftime 41-30.
 
The Bears started the second half with a little spark by converting the first two jumpers. One by Rasean Simpson and the other by Blossom, which again cut the deficit to seven at 41-34 with 18:10 left.
 
Blossom recorded a double-double on the night with 13 points and 10 rebounds while Blake Bozeman led the Bears with 20 points (4-8 3FG) on the night.
 
Coppin State scored the next ten points of the game by taking advantage of three Bear turnovers and capitalizing in the paint.  A couple of free throws from Sterling Smith gave the Eagles a 51-34 lead with 14:58 to go, forcing Coach Bozeman to call a timeout.
 
Morgan State responded and pushed to within 65-60 on a Bozeman three-pointer with 5:50 left in regulation.
 
However, that was as close as MSU would get as Coppin responded with an 11-0 run, effectively putting the Bears away. That run included an alley-oop from Smith to Gary, sending the Coppin faithful into a frenzy.
 
Shomari Triggs' lay-up gave the Eagles a 76-60 advantage with 2:21 remaining.