Bear Shots

NORFOLK, Va. (March 9, 2017) -- It wasn't the way they wanted to close out the season. However, Morgan State started rough, kept it close, and couldn't overcome the offensive rebounding of the Howard Bison in their 68-65 win over the Bears in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Basketball Tournament at the Scope Arena in Norfolk.

The Bears combination of Tiwian Kendley and Phillip Carr struggled most of the game, shooting a combined 8-of-25 from the field on the night.

The main difference in this game was on the boards. Howard outrebounded the Bears by a 41-37 margin. The offensive rebounding hurt the Bears as Howard  outscored them on second chance points 20-11.

"They beat us on the boards," said Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman. "(Howard) did a good job on the offensive glass. Allowed themselves to get 50 percent opportunities. So if we play the first half like we did the second half, maybe it's a different ball game. But we got to grow up." 

It really hurt Morgan State (14-16) early. Marcel Boyd for Howard recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Howard was white hot early offensively. At one point, the Morgan State coaching staff reminded them that the Bison were shooting nearly 67 percent from the field and needed to pick it up defensively. Howard (10-23) streaked off to a 27-17 lead on a basket from Charles Williams with 8:03 left in the first half.

But the Bears responded and pushed within five at 37-32 on a three-pointer from sophomore guard Tyler Streeter with 1:27 left. However, the Bison ended the first half on a big three-pointer from Williams with 14 seconds left. That gave the Bison a 40-32 halftime lead.

Streeter kept the Bears in it in the first half with his shooting touch. "Howard was sinking down (defensively) on Tiwian and Phillip," said Streeter. "I was just spotting up, hitting open shots."

After Boyd's lay-up of an offensive rebound extended the Howard lead to 42-32 about 20 seconds into the second half, the Bears made a run at the Bison. MSU scored eight straight points to draw the Bears within 42-40 on a jumper from Kyle Thomas with 15:33 left.

Howard pushed the advantage back to 51-45 on another offensive rebound and short jumper from Boyd with 11:45 left in the game.

The Bears fought back by scoring the next seven unanswered points on a lay-up from Streeter, a couple of free throws and then a big three from the corner from Kendley that gave the Bears the lead for the first time in the game at 52-51 with 6:10 left.

Both teams exchanged baskets until the game was tied at 57 when Carr split a pair of free throws with 2:59 left.

Then Howard scored the next five critical points of the game. Solomon Mangham hit a huge three-pointer and then Boyd hit two free throws to give the Bison a 62-57 advantage with 1:36 left in regulation.

Morgan State drew within two points twice. Once on a pair of free throws from Martez Cameron, and another was on a Cameron lay-up to draw the Bears within 67-65 with 14 seconds left. After Kofi Andoh made one and missed the second free throw to give the Bison a three-point lead, the missed free throw was rebounded by Carr who ran down to just past the center court line where he put up a final shot attempt to force overtime. The shot fell short at the buzzer.

Tiwian Kendley led four Morgan State scorers in double figures with 17 points on the evening.