2016 MEAC Bracket

NORFOLK, Va. -- The saying that it's hard to beat a team three straight times may be ancient. But like most ancient sayings, they have significant meaning. Especially to the Morgan State Bears, who lost twice in the regular season to the UMES Hawks. But as usual, the postseason is different and rewarding as the Bears used a late run to overcome the Hawks 65-58 in the opening round of the MEAC Tournament at Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk.

It was a back and forth affair early in the game before UMES made the first significant move of the game. With the game tied at 22 and 6:13 left in the first half, the Hawks scored nine unanswered points. The run was led by Ryan Andino hit a jumper and then followed it up by nailing a three from the right corner with 3:04 left to give the Hawks a 31-22 advantage. 

Then the Bears woke up a little bit to make a run. Rasean Simpson started the run by converting a couple of driving lay-ups. Then after Bakari Copeland, who recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds on the evening, converted a lay-up for UMES (10-22), Phillip Carr, who led the Bears with 16 points, was the man on the spot towards halftime as he converted a crucial three-point play with .7 seconds left to draw the Bears within 33-29, which was the halftime score.

After Copeland opened the second half with a lay-up, Morgan State (9-21) responded again. This time the Bears outscored UMES 11-3. A Clive Vaughn lay-up with 14:34 left gave the Bears a 40-38 lead.

The game was nip and tuck the majority of the game after that. The Hawks tried to put some distance between them and the Bears on a basket from Dominique Elliott, who led all scorers with 20 points, and Devin Martin to put the Hawks up 56-53 with 5:33 left in regulation. 

But Morgan State made their last push a lasting one by scoring seven unanswered points. Pretlow converted a couple of critical lay-ups to put MSU up 57-56 with 2:41 left. Then Pretlow took a critical charge that was called on Copeland with 2:10 left in regulation to give Morgan State the ball back. 

"It was a critical play because it took away their possession and gave us the ball back obviously," said MSU head coach Todd Bozeman. "Taking charges are something that we talk about all the time. Rasean and Cedric have been excellent with that all year. That was a good play."

Cedric Blossom made UMES pay on the other end by converting a lay-up with 1:41 left to extend the lead to 59-56. Simpson ended the run by hitting one of two free throws to make it 60-56 with 50 seconds left. 

Devin Martin closed the gap for UMES to 60-58 on a driving lay-up with 41 seconds left. However, the Bears put the game away at the free throw line by hitting three straight. Blossom punctuated the game with a lay-up.

Morgan State advances to the MEAC Tournament quarterfinals where they take on the top-seeded Hampton Pirates tomorrow night at 6 pm.

Bear Notes
The final seven-point margin was the largest lead of the game for the Bears (9-21). Altogether, the contest featured 15 lead changes and 12 ties, including 13 lead changes in the second half alone.

The Bears snapped a 4-game losing streak to the Hawks dating back to the 2014-15 season.

UMES held a commanding 40-26 rebounding advantage, and outscored the Bears in the paint by a 42-32 margin.