BALTIMORE, Md. -- We should be familiar with how this rivalry works. No lead is safe and it'll always seem to come down to the last minute no matter what. With all of that checked off, the Bears found a way to survive yet another Coppin State rally and edged the Eagles 71-66 at a raucous Hill Field House last night before an announced 4,078.
The win seals a sweep of the regular season series and clinches at least a bye in the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament which was huge to Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman.
"This win puts us in the top four for sure," said Bozeman. "That's one of the things we had to focus on. We had to get to the top four. As long as you get there, now it's a matter of if we're second or third depending upon the Norfolk State at Hampton result."
Since Hampton defeated Norfolk last night, the Bears are in position to clinch the No. 2 seed if they win at UMES on Thursday night. If the Bears and Spartans finish in a deadlock for second place, Morgan State gets the tiebreaker because of their two-point win over Norfolk State on January 4th at Hill Field House.
The first turning point for Morgan State (14-14, 11-4 MEAC) came after a three-pointer from Coppin State's Tre' Thomas gave the Eagles an 8-6 lead with 14:50 left. The Bears would go on a 13-point run, led by Tiwian Kendley, who scored the first 10 points of the run. That included a couple of flying dunks and three-pointers.
Kendley would lead all scorers with 21 points on the night. The run ended on a three from the corner by Kyle Thomas, who celebrated his senior night y scoring 16 points in the game. The three-pointer gave Morgan a 19-8 advantage with 10:57 left in the first half.
That run put Coppin State ((8-22, 7-8 MEAC) out of it in the first half as Morgan was able to keep the defensive pressure on the Eagles on the way to a 43-28 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Bears were able to build the lead to 19 at 53-34 when David Syfax converted one of two free throws with 15:06 left in the game. But Coppin State has made a habit of coming back from large deficits in the conference this season. This game was no different.
Coppin State turned up the defensive pressure and drove to the paint a lot more to help them outscore the Bears 28-11 in a 13 minute stretch. The only Coppin duo to score in double figures in Dejuan Clayton, who led the Eagles with 20 points and Chas Brown, who followed with 18 points, led the Coppin comeback attempt. Clayton was fouled behind the three-point arc by Kendley with 2:02 left and nailed all three free throws to draw the Eagles within a basket at 64-62.
But Kendley redeemed himself on the next possession as he drove to the basket and converted a huge lay-up to push the advantage to 66-62 with 1:49 left.
Coppin reacted with a follow-up dunk from Brown off a missed lay-up from Joseph Gripper to draw within a bucket again at 66-64. Syfax came back and made another driving lay-up with 1:20 left to make it 68-64. Then Gripper came back and made a driving lay-up to nudge Coppin within 68-66 with 57 seconds left.
Then after Martez Cameron missed a one-in-one, Coppin had a chance to perhaps win the game. But Brown was called for a foul on Kendley near the paint with 11 seconds left, causing the Morgan fans to cheer in relief while the Coppin fans were gasping in horror. Coppin had to foul and Kendley put the Eagles away by converting three of four shots from the free throw line.
Kendley spoke about the play.
"He gave me an illegal screen. I really wasn't looking for it. I was just locked on him he just found a way to get to the screen and the referee called it. Even if he didn't call it, my job was to get over to him so he couldn't hit the game winner."
A couple of Bears recorded double-doubles on the night as well. Syfax had 11 points and 10 rebounds while Phillip Carr appears to be back in the groove with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
"It's exciting," Coach Bozeman said about the atmosphere of the game. "I mean you really want every game to be that exciting. You just don't want it to be that stressful as you could have a heart attack. But you want every game to be exciting. If you're a player, that's what you want. If you're a coach, that's what you want."
Morgan hits the road for the regular season finale on Thursday night as they head to Princess Anne to play UMES. Tip-off is at 7:30 pm.
Bear Note
Morgan State moved back to the .500 mark with only one regular-season game, Thursday at UMES, before next month's conference tournament. The Bears, who had won just 16 games combined over the previous two seasons, now have won 11 of their past 15, and are looking for their first winning record since 2013.
