Game 19
Opponent: North Carolina Central Eagles (8-10, 3-1 MEAC)
Date: Monday, January 21, 2019
Site: McDouglad-McLendon Arena, Durham, N.C.
Game Time: 4 p.m. 
Series Record: NCCU leads 52-40
Live Stats/Video: nccueaglepride.com
Radio: NCCU Sports Network - Listen here
Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (154-208, 13th yr) • N.C. Central - Levelle Moton (179–129, 10th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.nccueaglepride.com

SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (7-11, 2-3) returns to conference action to face North Carolina Central on Monday (Jan. 21). The Bears are finishing a two-game road trip looking to earn its first win against NCCU since 2012. Game time is slated for 4 p.m. ET at McDougald-McLendon Arena in Durham, N.C. The contest will be streamed live on FloSports.com. The Bears dropped a 57-53 decision to North Carolina A&T on Saturday night at Corbett Sports Center. Coppin State handed North Carolina Central  (8-10, 3-1 MEAC) its first conference loss of the season by posting a 64-60 win on Saturday in Durham. 

THE SERIES
• Monday's contest will mark the 93rd matchup between the schools ... The Eagles lead the series 52-40 and have won the last eight meetings since Jan. 28, 2013.
• On March 9, 2018, The sixth-seeded North Carolina Central Eagles are headed back to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Basketball Tournament championship game, following a 79-70 defeat of No. 7 Morgan State. Tiwian Kendley, who led Morgan State with a game-high 30 points, ended his career with 1,032 points in 44 games to move into 25th all-time at Morgan State. Martez Cameron added 11 points and Syfax came off the bench to score 11 points. 
• 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 of North Carolina Central at Hill Field House. Kevin Thompson scored 13 and had five rebounds and three blocked shots for the Bears

BEAR BITS
• MSU's bench outscored Howard (Jan. 15) by a 40-10 margin.
• Junior forward David Syfax scored a season-high 16 points to help lead the Bears to an overtime win at Howard (Jan. 15)
• Morgan State converted a school record 27-of-27 free throws during its contest versus Lincoln-Pa. (Jan.3).
• Junior guard Stanley Davis recorded career-highs of 28 points and 19 rebounds vs. South Carolina State (Jan. 12).
• The Bears scored 26 points off of 18 turnovers against Binghamton.
• Morgan State was outscored in the paint by a 40-24 margin at N.C. A&T and the Aggies scored 24 points off of the Bears' 19 turnovers.

SCOUTING THE EAGLES
• North Carolina Central head coach Levelle Moton (North Carolina Central, '96) enters his 10th season as the Eagles head coach ... he was the 2014-15 NABC District Coach of the Year.
• N.C. Central finished the 2017-18 season with a 19-16 overall mark and finished with a 9-7 conference mark ... The Eagles defeated Hampton 71-63 and won the 2018 MEAC Tournament Championship for the third time in the Division I era ... The Eagles fell to Texas Southern (64-46) in the the NCAA Tournament.
• The Eagles have three players averaging in double figures, led by redshirt senior 6-9 forward Rasean Davis who is averaging 15.8 points (No. 5 in MEAC), 8.4 rebounds (No. 3), 1.2 blocks (No. 3), and leads the league shooting 70 percent from the field. Randy Miller Jr., a 6-2 redshirt senior guard, is averaging 11.6 points and is shooting 82.8 percent from the free throw line (No. 4). Redshirt junior 6-7 forward Jibri Blount is chipping in 10.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
• Rasean Davis was  a 2018-19 All-MEAC First Team preseason selection, while sophomore backcourt players Reggie Gardner and Jordan Perkins were named to the Second and Third team, respectively.
• N.C. Central leads the MEAC by holding its opponents to 67.2 points, and ranks No. 6 in the league by averaging 72.1 points per game.
• The Eagles also rank second in the league by shooting 47.1 percent from the field and are shooting 31.9 percent from 3-point territory (No. 6 in MEAC).
•  NCCU has dominated its opponents on the defensive boards -- the Eagles No. 1 in the MEAC in defensive rebounds (30.6 avg) and No. 1 in rebounding margin (+4.2).

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE EAGLES
Dejuan Clayton scored 16 points and Lamar Morgan scored 15 with seven rebounds and Coppin State knocked off North Carolina Central 64-60 on Saturday. Morgan's 3-pointer with 34 seconds left broke a 58-all tie and Clayton made 3 of 4 foul shots to seal the win. North Carolina Central saw its four-game win streak come to an end.

LAST TIME OUT FOR BEARS
The Morgan State Bears dropped a 57-53 decision to North Carolina A&T on Saturday night at Corbett Sports Center. Junior guard Stanley Davis led the Morgan State with 18 points and redshirt-junior forward Jordan Little added his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears. Senior guard Martez Cameronchipped in nine points and three assists. Ronald Jackson led all scorers with 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Kaeron Langley dished 10 assists and scored the game-winning basket.

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 13th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last 12 MEAC Tournament championships, captured back-to-back-MEAC Titles, and made appearances in the NIT and two NCAA Tournaments. 

WHO'S OUT
Morgan State's standouts Phillip Carr and guard Tiwian Kendley completed their careers as two of the school's all-time top players. Kendley, a 6-5 guard from Harlem, N.Y., has made his mark as one of the top players in school history. In his senior campaign, Kendley averaged 26.1 points per game and grabbed 4.0 rebounds per game while also averaging 2.1 steals per game. He is currently a member of the NBA G League's Washington Go-Gos. Carr is one of only seven players to wear the MSU uniform and score over 1,000 points with over 700 rebounds, totals that he accumulated in just three seasons as a Bear. Carr is currently playing for the New York Knicks team's G League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks.

WHO'S BACK
Back from last season's squad that finished with a 13-19 record are starters Martez Cameron and Antonio Gillespie, while Stanley Davis Jr. and David Syfax return to the Bears along with a number of contributors off the bench with: Tyler Streeter, LaPri McCray-Pace and Kyson Rawls.

WHO'S IN 
The Bears have added seven newcomers to the 2018-19 roster: G Ranell Bell; G Malik Miller;  G Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr.; G Isaiah Burke; F Jordan Little;  F Victor Curry; and F Taron Oliver Jr.

RETURNING PRODUCTION NUMBERS 
Morgan State returns 49.6 percent of its scoring, 28.4 percent of its rebounding and 55.1 percent of its minutes played totals from last year's team. The team leaders in field goal percentage (Tyler Streeter - .543 ), three-point percentage (Antonio Gillespie, .369), free throw percentage (Antonio Gillespie, .800), rebounding (David Syfax - 4.4 rpg), assists (Martez Cameron, 4.3), steals (Martez Cameron, 1.5),  blocked shots (David Syfax, 0.7). and minutes played (Martez Cameron, 32.6).  Six (6) players who started in at least five (5) games a year ago also return - Cameron (26), Davis (16), Gillespie (14 ), McCray-Pace (10), Rawls (6) and  Syfax (5).

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 four players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Freshman point guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. is from Bladensburg, Md. and graduated from Wise HS. Freshman guard Isaiah Burke is from Annapolis and was a prep standout at Bowie HS, while junior forward Taron Oliver, Jr. played for Montrose Christian and is from District Heights, Md. Freshman guard Malik Miller hails from Washington, D.C. and played at Friendship Tech Prep.

BOZEMAN'S RETURNING STAFF
Morgan State head basketball coach Todd Bozeman coaching staff returns for their fourth 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.

CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The year will open the 2018-19 season with three road matchups, first at Villanova Nov. 6, then at Saint Francis on Nov. 9, followed by DePaul on Nov. 12. The Bears' home-opener will be Nov. 15 versus Lincoln (Pa.), followed by a Nov. 20 date when they host the Naval Academy. The Bears will face Mount St. Mary's at Hill Field House on Nov. 25, and travel to George Mason on Nov. 28.  The Bears will face Virginia on Dec. 3 and will host Binghamton on Dec. 5. MSU will take on Towson on Dec. 8, followed by a matchup with Wilmington (Del.) on Dec. 17. MSU will wrap the month of December at Old Dominion (Dec. 22) and will travel to the west coast for a game at CA-Northridge Dec. 29.

PREDICTED TO FINISH SIXTH IN THE MEAC
The Morgan State men's basketball team has been tabbed to finish sixth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preseason Men's Basketball Poll the league announced today.  
• The Bears return two starters from last year's team, bringing back senior guards Martez Cameron and Antonio Gillespie. MSU also returns a few talented upperclassmen in senior guard Tyler Streeter and junior guard Stanley Davis and junior forward David Syfax.
• MSU was selected to finish sixth in 2018-19, earning 138 points in the poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors who could not vote for their own team or team members. Bethune-Cookman edged out North Carolina Central for first place honors.
• Seven (7) Bears are back from a team that tied for seventh in the MEAC. Morgan State finished the year 7-9 in the conference and 13-19 overall. MSU's season ended with a 79-70 loss to North Carolina Central in the MEAC Tournament semifinals.
• The 2018 MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off March 5-10 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.  For more information about the MEAC and its sponsored sports, log on to www.MEACSports.com.

MORGAN'S DRIVING FORCE 
• Stanley Davis continues to be the main engine for MSU as he controls the Bears offense and defense. 
• So far this season, Davis is averaging 12.6 points, 6.4 rebounds (ranks No. 9 in MEAC) and 2 assists per game.
• Davis has three-or-more assists in six of 18 games played. 
• He recorded career-highs of 28 points (10-21 FG) and 19 rebounds in 34 minutes of action vs. South Carolina State (Jan. 12) ... he also chipped in three assists.
• Davis posted his second double-double of the season (21 points, 10 rebounds) and had three steals in an overtime win at Howard (Jan 15). 
• Davis is currently shooting 48.4 percent (ranks No. 9 in MEAC) from the field and 78 percent (No. 10) from the charity stripe.
• He is averaging 19.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals in conference-only play.

DISHING OUT DIMES
MSU senior point guard Martez Cameron led the Bears in assists during the 2017-18 by averaging just over four per game (4.4) in 31 games.
•  Cameron dished out a season-high 6 assists to go along with 13 points and 5 rebounds versus Binghamton (Dec. 5) ... he also had six assists vs. Lincoln-Pa. (Jan. 3) and Savannah State (Jan. 7).
•  Thru 18 games, he's averaging 7.5 ppg, 2.6 rpg and 3.3 apg (ranks No. 7 in MEAC).
•  The Chicago product passed Donte Pretlow (2012-16; 335) to become No. 3 on the school's all-time assists leaderboard currently with 391 assists in 109 career games ... and counting ... currently 52 assists away from becoming the school's all-time leader.
•  The only Bears ahead of Cameron on the all-time assists list are: No. 2 Billy Newton (421) and No. 1 Jason McCoy (442).

ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering 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. 

The National Trust for Historic Preservation named Morgan State University a National Treasure in 2016, in the latest significant effort towards preserving the rich cultural legacy of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The National Trust and Morgan State University have partnered to develop a preservation plan that stewards the many historic buildings on campus, while planning wisely for the university's future. To learn more about the Morgan State University National Treasure, visit www.savingplaces.org.