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Game 2
Opponent: Towson Tigers (1-0)
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016
Site: Hill Field House (4,250)
Game Time: 7 p.m.
Series Record: Towson leads 14-13
Live Video Stream: Live Video Stream on www.MorganStateBears.com - click here
Radio Stream: Heritage Sports Radio Network (www.HSRN.com)
Talent: Lamont Germany (Play by Play) | Austin Ward (Color Analyst)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (159-163, 11th yr) • TU - Pat Skerry (77-88 6th yr) 
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.TowsonTigers.com
  
SETTING THE STAGE
The Morgan State Bears will welcome the Towson Tigers to Hill Field House on Tuesday, November 15. The Bears will attempt to bounce back from a 93-52 defeat at the University of Houston, while the Tigers are coming off a 67-61 season-opener win at George Mason. Tip-off at Hill Field House is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast online by Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN) with Lamont Germany (play-by-play) and Austin Ward (color analyst) call all the action. There will be live updates throughout the game available on Twitter @MorganStBears.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
• Towson welcomed back three starters, from a squad that posted a 20-13 overall record, and finished T-3rd place with a 11-7 mark in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tigers lost to Northeastern (L, 71-60) in the CAA Championship, and fell in the inaugural Vegas 16 Quarterfinals to Oakland (L, 90-72).

• Coming off of its second 20-win season in three years, Towson was picked behind reigning CAA champion UNCW.

• Pat Skerry enters his sixth season as the Tigers head men's basketball coach where he holds a 77-88 record. He currently holds a 101-113 career record in his 8th year as a head coach.

• Towson senior forward Arnuad William Adala Moto and junior guard Mike Morsell were named to the preseason All-CAA team. Adala Moto earned first team recognition, while Morsell was selected to the second team.

THE SERIES
• Tuesday marks the 28th meeting in the series. The Tigers hold a 14-13 advantage in the series vs. MSU since 1967-68. Towson has won the last three meetings.

• In their last meeting, Byron Hawkins scored 15 points and Towson knocked down 12 of 16 free throw attempts in the final three minutes to hold off MSU and win its home opener, 69-61 on Nov. 17, 2015. Andre Horne led the Bears with 27 points, Phillip Carr finished just shy of a double-double by posting 9 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 11th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last 10 MEAC Tournament championships, captured back-to-back-MEAC Titles, and made appearances in the NIT and two NCAA Tournaments.

BEWARE THE BEAR
Under the direction of Todd Bozeman, Morgan State has collected a couple of memorable wins against big-time opponents. The Bears have recorded historic wins against: Long Island (2009); Manhattan (2009); Arkansas (2009); DePaul (2008); and Maryland (2009).

HOME GROWN 
Morgan State has three players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Returning senior forward Kyle Thomas is from Owings Mills, Md. and graduated from Milford Mill Academy. Newcomer Tyjhai Byers is from Bethesda and was a prep standout at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, while Tiwian Kendley played at Eleanor Roosevelt HS and is a product of Greenbelt, Md.

COMFORTABLE AT HILL FIELD HOUSE 
Todd Bozeman has won at least 10 home games in three of his 10 seasons in Baltimore. The 2007-08 (12-1) and 2009-10 (11-1) squads finished with just a single loss, while the 2010-11 squad went 10-2. Bozeman has led the Bears to a 77-36 (.681) overall home record at Hill Field House.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE TO TEST YOUNG BEARS
The year will open with a matchup at Houston Nov. 11, followed by three home contests against Towson Nov. 15, Wilmington Nov. 17 and Campbell Nov. 19. The Bears then hit the road for games at Brown Nov. 23 and Bowling Green Nov. 26, before returning to Hill Field House to host High Point Nov. 28. The Bears open the month of December with a date at Rutgers Dec. 3, before hosting a pair of contests against Manhattan Dec. 6 and Wagner Dec. 10.  The remaining three non-conference games on the schedule will take place at Penn State Nov. 21, at Loyola Marymount Dec. 27 and at California State, Northridge Dec. 29.

BEARS' SUMMER TOUR IN CANADA
The 2016-17 men's basketball season began a bit earlier than usual, as Morgan State planned a trip to Canada in August. The 7-day trip was scheduled from August 13 and ran through August 20. In that span, the Bears will played five games against outside competition. While in Canada, the Bears played games in Montreal and Ottawa. The trip marked Morgan State's sixth foreign tour since 1974. Previously, the Bears have traveled internationally to Brazil (1974), Colombia (1975), Canada, Cancun, Windsor, Canada (2010), Mexico (2011) and Nassau, Bahamas (2012).
"The tour provides returning players that might not have played a lot, to gain some valuable experience against international competition," said Todd Bozeman, who is entering his 11th season as Morgan State's head coach. "The tour allows you 10 days to practice, which is invaluable! It's a tremendous opportunity to get started early and exposes the young people to another country and culture."

BOZEMAN'S RETURNING STAFF
Morgan State head basketball coach Todd Bozeman coaching staff returns for their second season. The Bears coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Brian Ellerbe, Larry Stewart, and Hans Desir.

• Ellerbe spent four years at Virginia, starting in 1990. He worked under Jeff Jones, now coach at Old Dominion. He was also the rst African-American Head Coach at Loyola University, Maryland and The University of Michigan.

• Stewart was the Associate Head Coach for the Bowie State men's basketball team where he spent six seasons. He played with the NBA's Bullets, Vancouver Grizzlies and Seattle Super Sonics until 1997. His brother, Stephen, is an assistant coach at Coppin State.

• Desir, a Miami native, joins the Bears staff with over 10 years of coaching experience. he was previously lead assistant coach for J.T. Burton at Motlow College. 

WELCOME TO EAST COLD SPRING LANE
MSU's incoming class features four freshmen and three transfers. The incoming freshmen include 6-foot-4 guard Stanley Davis (Chester, Pa./STEM Academy), 6-foot-8 forward Azariah Sykes (Midlothian, Va./Millwood HS),  6-foot-7 David Syfax (Detroit, Mich./Pershing HS) and 6-foot-10 center Tyjahi Byers(Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS). In addition, MSU welcomes 6-foot-2 guard Isiah Graves(Atlantic City, N.J./Atlantic City HS), who joins the Bears as a transfer from Southern C.C., Lamar C.C. transfer Tiwian Kendley (Harlem, N.Y./Roosevelt HS)  and Alex Ennis (Ocean, N.J.), a 6-foot-10 transfer from Independence C.C.

LAST TIME OUT VS. TOWSON
Morgan State 61, Towson 69 • Nov. 17, 2015 • SECU Arena • Towson, Md.
• Byron Hawkins scored 15 points and Towson knocked down 12 of 16 free throw attempts in the final three minutes to hold off Morgan State and win its home opener, 69-61 at SECU Arena before a crowd of 2,351 fans.

• The Tigers connected on 24-of-38 free throws for the game, while Morgan State shot 80 percent (8-10) including just a pair of free throws in the second half.

• Towson closed the first half on a 14-6 run to carry a 32-25 lead into halftime, but Morgan State regrouped to start the second half with its own 14-6 run to retake the lead.

• John Davis scored 16 points off the Tigers' bench to lead Towson. Hawkins added 15 points and Walter Foster contributed 11. Timajh Parker-Rivera and William Adala Moto each grabbed eight rebounds.

• Andre Horne Jr., a junior transfer from South Plaines C.C., led the Bears with 27 points, knocking down 9 of his 20 shots from the floor and 5 of his 10 shots from behind the arc. 

• Phillip Carr finished just shy of a double-double by posting 9 points (4-12 FG) and a gane-high nine rebounds. Kyle Thomas added 9 points but struggled from beyond the arc (1-9 3FG).

LARGEST MARGIN IN WIN
Morgan State posted an 83-43 victory over Coppin State (Feb. 1) for its largest margin of victory of the 2015-16 season, and its largest margin of victory against the Eagles. Prior to the win against Howard, the Bears' previous largest margin of victories had been by five (5) points. On Nov. 21, 2015 the Bears posted their first win of the season with a 59-54 win at Campbell University, and on Jan. 9, 2016 they recorded a 63-58 victory against Delaware State.

STARTING LINEUPS
• Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman had several starting lineups during the course of last season. The Bears had a total of nine different starting lineups through the 31 games.

• Bozeman's 206-17 season-opener lineup last Saturday night at the University of Houston was comprised of: G Martez Cameron, G Tiwian Kendley, F Kyle Thomas, F Phillip Carr and C Alex Ennis.

NOTABLE DEPARTURE
The Bears will look to replace standout forward Cedric Blossom who statistically ranked among the top players for Morgan State last season.
• He was selected All-MEAC Third Team and completed the 2015-16 regular season ranked No. 10 in the MEAC in scoring (14.9 ppg), ranked No. 7 in field goal shooting percentage (.497), and he also averaged 6.6 rebounds per game.
 
• Blossom's selection to the All-MEAC Third-Team marks the eighth time out of 10 seasons under head coach Todd Bozeman that a Morgan State player has been named to the All-MEAC first, second or third team.

• He is currently a member of the Petrolero Argentino basketball team in Argentina.

RETURNING POINTS, REBOUNDS, ASSISTS
• Morgan State returns 43.1 percent of its scoring from a year ago -- 29.0 ppg  out of an average during the 2015-16 season of 67.4 points ... MSU returns 14.4 boards a game from a year ago and that's about 41.0 percent of last year's team average of 35.1 a game.

• When it comes to assists, MSU returns just 144 assists from the total of 349 assists from last season or 41.2 percent returning.

TOWSON IS FIRST OF THREE GAME HOMESTAND
• The Bears start the 2016-17 home season with three  games in five days before traveling to Brown next Wednesday (Nov. 23). and Bowling Green on Saturday, Nov. 26. 

• Morgan State will return to Hill Field House to host High Point on Nov. 28 (7 p.m.).

ON DECK 
The Bears will host the Wilmington Wildcats on Thursday, Nov. 17. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Hill Field House.