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Game 6
Opponent: Mount St. Mary's  (2-4)
Date: Monday, November 27, 2017
Site:  Knott Arena, Emmitsburg, Md.
Game Time: 7 p.m. 
Series Record: Mount St. Mary's leads 6-1
Live Stats & Video Stream: morganstatebears.com
Radio: Heritage Sports Radio Network - HSRN.org 
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (176-180, 12th yr) • MSM - Jamion Christian (85-85 6th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.mountathletics.com

SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (3-2) will travel to face Mount St. Mary's on Monday at Knott Arena in Emmitsburg (Md.). The Mount (2-4) suffered an 96-77 road loss to Ohio (Nov. 24).  Junior Robinson led the Mount with 21 points to go along with a career-high 10 assists. LaPri McCray-Pace led the way for the Bears by scoring 21 points in 22 minutes to help Morgan State defeat Division II Goldey-Beacom 82-67 on Tuesday night at Hill Field House. Tyler Streeter and Kyson Rawls added 13 points apiece off the bench for the Bears.

SCOUTING THE MOUNT
• Mount St. Mary's, a member of the Northeast Conference, begins the sixth season under head coach Jamion Christian ... Christian was named the Northeast Conference Jim Phelan Coach of the Year last season after guiding the Mount to its first NEX regular season in 21 seasons.
• The Mount finished the 2016-17 season with a 20-16 overall mark, finished with a 14-4 conference record and captured both the NEC regular season and tournament championships ... The Mount advanced to the NCAA First Round where they fell to Villanova.
•  Coach Christian branding his style of play as "Mount Mayhem" ... Christian has led the Mount to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances in his five years as head coach.
•  Senior 5-5 guard Junior Robinson (21.3 ppg) and 6-5 redshirt freshman Jonah Antonio (13.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg), along with senior 6-5 forward Greg Alexander (10.5 ppg) have led the way thru the first six games.
•  Mount St. Mary's University, the defending Northeast Conference (NEC) men's basketball champions, have been selected to finish fourth in the annual NEC Preseason Coaches Poll ... Senior guard Junior Robinson was selected to the Preseason All-NEC team.

THE SERIES
• The game will be the eighth matchup between the schools with Mount St. Mary's leading the series 6-1. 
• The Bears defeated the Mount 69-64 at Hill Field House on Dec. 7, 1982 ... it was Morgan State's only win in the series.
• The Mount have won the last three matchups versus the Bears.  

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 12th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last 11 MEAC Tournament championships, captured back-to-back-MEAC Titles, and made appearances in the NIT and two NCAA Tournaments. Bozeman is also the school's all-time winningest coach with 176 victories...and counting!

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 sophomore forward Azariah Sykes is from Richmond, Va. and graduated from Milwood HS. Returning sophomore center Tyjhai Byers is from Bethesda and was a prep standout at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, while Harlem native Tiwian Kendley is not from the DMV... he did play at Eleanor Roosevelt HS.

CARR NAMED MEAC PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR, KENDLEY SELECTED TO FIRST TEAM
The MEAC announced that Morgan State forward Phillip Carr is the 2017-18 MEAC Preseason Player of the Year.
• Carr, a Brooklyn, New York, native, led the Bears in rebounding, and was second on the team in scoring last season.
• He was selected to the All-MEAC's first team while being the third Bear to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor (Boubacar Coly – 2008, Kevin Thompson - 2010).
• Carr becomes the first Bear to be named the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year since Kevin Thompson before his senior season in 2010. Reggie Holmes is the last Bear to win the regular-season award, when he received the award in 2009.
• Todd Bozeman's Bears received 13 of 26 first-place votes, outdistancing Norfolk State, and reigning champion North Carolina Central atop the standings.
• Carr led the five-man preseason All-MEAC First-Team and was joined by teammate Tiwian Kendley, who was the MEAC's leading scorer after averaging 21.0 points per game last season. The rest of that group was Norfolk State's Zaynah Robinson, Bethune-Cookman's Brandon Tabb and Howard's Charles Williams.

BOZEMAN'S BRAIN TRUST
Morgan State head basketball coach Todd Bozeman coaching staff returns for their third season. The0 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 first 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.

CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The year will open the 2017-18 season with a pair of road matchups, first  at Binghamton Nov. 10, followed by South Florida Nov. 13. The Bears' season-opener will be Nov. 16 versus Lincoln (Pa.), followed by a Nov. 18 date at West Virginia. The Bears will host Goldey Beacom Nov. 21 for its final home contest of the year. The Bears remaining seven non-conference  games will occur on the road. MSU will wrap the month of November at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27) and George Washington (Nov. 29). The Bears travel schedule will continue with matchups at Navy (Dec.3 ), Towson (Dec. 6), Manhattan (Dec. 9) and George Mason (Dec 22). MSU's west coast swing will begin with a trip to face Grand Canyon Dec. 27 in Las Vegas, followed by a game at CA-Northridge Dec. 30.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
The Bears completed the 2016-17 season ranked No. 2 in the conference in free throw percentage by shooting 71.1 percent (484-681) from the line. Phillip Carr ranked No. 3 (.829) in the league, while Tiwian Kendley shot .786 from the stripe (No. 7 in MEAC).
• The Bears have started the 2017-18 season by shooting 68.2 percent (75-110) from the stripe. Stanley Davis, Jr.  is shooting 84.6 percent (11-13), followed by Martez Cameron at 78.3 percent (18-23).

BEAR D 
The Bears defense was ranked among the conference leaders a season ago and should once again be solid defensively for 2017-18 season.
• MSU's defense has limited opponents to an average of 73.4 points (No. 1 in MEAC) thru the first five games.
• The Bears rank No. 2 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 43.9 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 8 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 36.9 percent.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Morgan State is shooting 37.8 percent from the floor.
• The Bears have shot under 50 percent from the floor in its first four of five games and shot a season-high 50 percent in their last game against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 21).
• Two starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – LaPri McCray-Pace (.442) and Stanley Davis (.536). and Tyler Streeter is shooting a team best 68.4 percent off the bench.

COMFORTABLE AT HILL FIELD HOUSE
Todd Bozeman has won at least 10 home games in three of his 11 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 88-41 (.682) overall home record at  Hill Field House.

RETURNING PTS, REBS, ASTS
Morgan State returns 80.8 percent of its scoring from a season in which the team averaged 67.5 ppg during the 2016-17 season of 67.5 points ... MSU returns 74.9 boards a game from a year ago and that's about 74.3 percent of last year's team average of 39.0 a game ... When it comes to assists, MSU returns 263 assists from the total of 322 assists from last season or 81.7 percent returning.

BOARD CHAIR
Phillip Carr, the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the Bears in a 72-60 win over Lincoln-Pa. in which he grabbed a career record 19 rebounds, completely controlling the glass against the Lions.
•  Carr's 19 boards bested his previous record of 17, which he set Nov. 23, 2015 against Goldey-Beacom. 
•  Carr currently ranks No. 3 in the MEAC by averaging 7.8 rebounds per game in the first five games of the season.

HE'S BACK… DISHING OUT DIMES
MSU junior point guard Martez Cameron led the Bears in assists during the 2016-17 by averaging just over four per game (4.3) in 30 starts.
•  Cameron notched 9 points (5-6 FT) and dished out a game-high five assists in the season opener against the Binghamton.
•  He scored 11 points (4-4 FT) with five dimes and three steals in 35 minutes during the Bears win versus Lincoln-Pa.
•  The Chicago product is currently averaging 9.2 points, 4.6 assists and is shooting 78.3 percent (18-23) from the charity stripe.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Bears close out the 2017 calendar with eight straight road games starting with Mount St. Mary's on Monday night and at George Washington on Wednesday (Nov. 29).
• Morgan State will open the month of December with a date at Navy on Dec. 3, followed by matchups at Towson Dec. 6, at Manhattan Dec. 9, and at George Mason Dec. 22.
• The Bears will wrap the non-conference schedule with a west coast swing to face Grand Canyon on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas, followed by a contest at California State, Northridge Dec. 30.

ABOUT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is celebrating its 150th year of excellence in higher education. A Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution, Morgan offers more than 100 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.