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Game 18
Opponent: North Carolina Central Eagles (9-8, 3-0 MEAC)
Date: Monday, January 8, 2017
Site:  McDougald-McLendon Arena, Durham, N.C.
Game Time: 4 p.m. 
Series Record: NCCU leads the series 47-40
Live Stats/Video Stream: nccueaglepride.com
Radio: n/a
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (180-188, 12th yr) • N.C. Central - Levelle Moton (161-111 9th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.nccueaglepride.com

SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (7-10, 3-1) looks to bounce back when they travel to face North Carolina Central in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action on Monday, Jan. 15. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. ET at McDougald-McLendon Arena in Durham, N.C. The contest will be streamed live on nccueaglepride.com. Tiwian Kendley scored a game-high 20 points, but the Bears fell at N.C. A&T 69-67 at Corbett Sports Arena. Pablo Rivas had 23 points and 14 rebounds and NCCU (9-8, 3-0) beat Coppin State 81-61 on Saturday in Durham. Alston Jones scored 16, Larry McKnight Jr. added 15 points for the Eagles.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
• North Carolina Central head coach Levelle Moton (North Carolina Central, '96) enters his 9th season as the Eagles head coach ... he was the 2014-15 NABC District Coach of the Year.
• N.C. Central finished the 2016-17 season with a 25-9 overall mark and finished as the MEAC regular season champions by posting a 13-3 record... The Eagles defeated Norfolk State 67-59 and won the 2017 MEAC Tournament Championship for the second time in the Division I era ... The Eagles fell to UC Davis (67-63) in the the NCAA Tournament.
• The Eagles have a three players averaging in double figures, led by redshirt junior 6-9 forward Rasean Davis who is averaging 14.9 points (No. 10 in MEAC) and 7.4 rebounds (No. 6) and leads the league shooting 68 percent from the field. Pablo Rivas, a 6-6 senior guard,  is averaging 11.5 points and is shooting 40 percent from 3-point territory (No. 2). Reggie Gardner Jr., a 6-3 freshman guard from Bowie, Md., is averaging 11.4 ppg and freshman 6-1 guard Jordan Perkins is chipping in 7.3 points and 4.5 assists per game (No. 6).
• Freshman Reggie Gardner, Jr. attended Loomis Chaffee HS and junior forward Zacarry Douglas is a Landover (Md.) product who transferred to NCCU from Cal State Northridge.
• N.C. Central leads the MEAC by holding its opponents to 69.1 points, and ranks No. 5 in the league by averaging 74.2 points per game.
• The Eagles also lead the league by shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point territory.
•  NCCU has dominated the boards and are currently averaging 36.5 rebounds per game (No. 1 in MEAC).

THE SERIES
• Monday's contest will mark the 88th matchup between the schools ... The Eagles lead the series 47-40 and has won the last five meetings. 
•  Feb. 20, 2016 -- Dante Holmes scored 18 points with nine rebounds and six assists as North Carolina Central posted a 73-59 victory against Morgan State. It marked the Eagles first trip to Hill Field House since 2012. Cedric Blossom scored a game-high 20 points for the Bears.
•  The Bears last win against N.C. Central was on Jan. 23, 2012 -- Larry Bastfield scored a career-high 20 points in leading the Morgan State Bears to a 71-64 win over the Eagles at Hill Field House. Kevin Thompson scored 13 and had five rebounds and three blocked shots for 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 180 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. 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 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.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
The Bears have started the 2017-18 season by shooting 71.5 percent (291-407; No. 4 in MEAC) from the stripe. Phillip Carr  is shooting 82.8 percent (72-87; No. 5), followed by Martez Cameron at 72.7 percent (40-55) and LaPri McCray-Pace at 69.5 percent (41-59).
• Tiwian Kendley will enter Monday's contest versus N.C. Central after shooting 6-for-8 from the stripe against N.C. A&T (Jan. 13) ... he's shooting 80.5 percent (62-77) from the line thru his first seven contests.

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 76.6 points (No. 5 in MEAC) thru 17 games.
• The Bears rank No. 6 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 45.6 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 10 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 37.3 percent.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Morgan State is shooting 41.2 percent from the floor.
• The Bears have shot under 50 percent from the floor in its first 12 of 16 games.
• Morgan State has shot 50 percent or better in three of its last 12 contests ... they shot 50 percent against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 21), a season-high 52 percent at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27), and shot 50 percent in a win against Florida A&M (Jan. 6).
• Three starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – Tiwian Kendley (.485), Phillip Carr (.423) and Stanley Davis (.417), while Elijah Staley is shooting 52.2 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 90-41 (.687) overall home record at Hill Field House.
• Morgan State is 5-0 at home so far this season.

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 (ranks T-No. 5 highest in the nation) bested his previous record of 17, which he set Nov. 23, 2015 against Goldey-Beacom.
•  Carr posted his 21st career double-double with 19 points and 11 boards vs. Maryland Eastern Shore (Jan. 3).
•  Carr currently leads the MEAC by averaging 9.1 rebounds per game in 15 games of the season.
•  He was selected as the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week (Dec. 26) following an impressive performance during the Bears' tough loss at George Mason ... Carr has posted nine double-doubles so far this season.

CARR REACHES 500 REBOUNDS
•  Senior forward Phillip Carr recorded his 500th rebound at Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 27 in his 61st career game.
•  Carr recorded 13 rebounds versus Savannah State (Jan. 8) and currently ranks among the school's leaders in rebounds ranks No. 10 with 609 boards.
•  Carr is 33 rebounds shy passing Damone Williams for No. 9 on the school's all-time rebounds list.

DISHING OUT DIMES
MSU junior point guard Martez Cameron led the Bears in assists during the 2016-17 by averaging just under 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.
•  He poured in a career-high 19 points (8-16 FG) and had four assists and two steals in 36 minutes at George Washington.
•  Cameron finished with seven dimes, seven points and three steals in 36 minutes versus Eastern Shore (Jan. 3).
• The Chicago product is currently the team's third leading scorer averaging 8.8 points, with 4.2 assists per game (No. 7 in MEAC), and ranks No. 3  with 1.7 steals per game. 

KENDLEY RINGING IT UP
After missing the first 10 games of the 2017-18 season, senior guard Tiwian Kendley has returned to the hardwood for the Bears.
•  The Harlem product provided quite an offensive explosion for the Bears during his season debut at George Mason last Friday night at EagleBank Arena.
•  The 6-5 guard missed his first shot of the night, but completed the first half with 20 points (4-5 3FG).
• He finished with a game-high 31 points (10-22 FG) and shot an efficient 7-of-11 from 3-point territory and grabbed five boards in 35 minutes of action.
• Kendley followed the performance with another 31-point outing when the Bears played Grand Canyon at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas (Dec. 27) ... he shot 8-of-20 from the field and was perfect from the free throw line (12-12 FT)  and pitched in four steals in 37 minutes of action.
• He has scored 20 or more points since returning to the floor this season.
• He's currently averaging 29.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals and is shooting 48.5 percent from the field and 81 percent from the charity stripe.

ROAD TESTING
Despite losing its last eight games away from the Hill Field House, Morgan State has shown steady progress on the road. It will need to take that momentum with it when the team faces off against North Carolina Central (9-8, 3-0 MEAC) on Monday night in Durham. 
•  The Bears are currently 2-9 on the road with its only pair of wins at South Florida (Nov. 13) and Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27).

DID YOU KNOW? 
Neither of the team's two best players, MEAC Preseason Player of the Year Phillip Carr and preseason first-team All-MEAC selection Tiwian Kendley, started their career at Morgan State. Carr, a senior forward, played for a year apiece at junior colleges Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) and Williston State (N.D.). Kendley, a senior guard, spent two years at Lamar Community College (Colo.) after a standout high school career at Eleanor Roosevelt in Prince George's County.

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.