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Game 6
Opponent: Liberty Flames (5-0)
Date: Friday, November 22, 2019
Site:  Baha Mar Convention Center, Nassau, The Bahamas
Game Time: 11 a.m. EST
Live Video: www.FloHoops.com | Live Stats: www.statbroadcast.com
MSU Coaches: MSU - Kevin Broadus (3-2, 1st yr) • Liberty  - Ritchie McKay (129-83, 7th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.liberty.edu

SETTING THE STAGE
• The Morgan State Bears open their three-game stint in the 2019 The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase with the Liberty Flames on Friday, Nov. 22 at 11 a.m. (EST) inside the Baha Mar Convention Center. Morgan's game with Liberty will begin the first of three games in three days for the week.
• Tuesday's win against Regent marked the 3rd victory at Morgan State for Coach Kevin Broadus. 
• Lagio Grantsaan scored a game-high 20 points along with 11 rebounds to lead Morgan State to a 88-52 win over Regent on Tuesday at Hill Field House. Stanley Davis and Kyson Rawls scored 13 apiece, while Sherwyn Devonish-Prince and Isaiah Burke added 10 each for the Bears (3-2).
• Morgan State is participating in its first Island of the Bahamas Showcase in program history.
• Senior guard Stanley Davis leads the Bears by averaging 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and is shooting 59 percent from the field and 80 percent from the charity stripe.
• Junior forward Troy Baxter has 13 blocked shots (T-No. 36 in the nation) in five games and leads the Bears on the glass with 6.8 rebounds per game.
• Sophomore guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. is averaging 31 minutes per game and played the entire 40 minutes during the Bears win against George Washington (Nov. 16).

SERIES HISTORY VS. LIBERTY
• Morgan will open the Showcase with its first matchup against Liberty since a 51-50 win on Nov. 26, 2014 in Cancun, Mexico.
• Prior to that, the most recent matchup was Nov. 29, 2012 at the Vines Center in Lynchburg when the Bears won 67-62. Anthony Hubbard had 16 points and Ian Chiles added 12 points to lead Morgan. Justin Black finished with a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with nine points and nine assists.
• Morgan State leads the series 3-1 since 1983.
• The Bears have won the last three meetings against the Flames.
• Liberty's last win against the Bears was on Jan. 22, 1983 (68-51).

SCOUTING LIBERTY
•  The Bears will face a Liberty team that had a historical 2018-19 season. The Flames captured both the ASUN Conference regular season title and the ASUN Men's Basketball Championship, punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. No. 12 seed Liberty upended No. 5 seed Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time the Flames have picked up a win in the "Big Dance" in their fourth trip to the tournament.
• Liberty was picked No. 1 in the ASUN Preseason Coaches and Media Poll and was ranked No. 21 in Lindy's Sports Magazine Top 25 Poll.
•  The Flames have been led by r-senior guard  Caleb Homesley (6-6, 200) and sophomore guard Darius McGhee (5-9, 150). Homesley is currently averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds and is shooting 47.6 percent from the field and has connected on 10 of 21 three-pointers. McGhee is also averaging double-figures with 11.8 points per game and is shooting 50 percent from the floor. R-senior forward Scottie James (6-7, 230) is chipping in 8.8 points and leads the Flames on the glass with 9.6 rebounds per contest.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE FLAMES
• Myo Baxter-Bell knocked down four free throws and blocked a shot in the final minute to allow Liberty to hold off Navy, 55-48 on Tuesday night.
• Darius McGhee had 13 points to lead Liberty and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz had 12 points for the Flames, who earned their fifth straight win to start the season. Cuffee added 10 points and Scottie James had nine rebounds.
• The Flames were out-rebounded by a 41-27 margin.
• Liberty held the Midshipmen to just 4-for-24 shooting from beyond the arc.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BEARS
• Lagio Grantsaan scored a game-high 20 points along with 11 rebounds to lead Morgan State to a 88-52 win over Regent on Tuesday at Hill Field House. Stanley Davis and Kyson Rawls scored 13 apiece, while Sherwyn Devonish-Prince and Isaiah Burke added 10 each for the Bears (3-2). 
• It marked Morgan State's first meeting and first win against the Regent.

EARLY IN THE SEASON
Morgan State has posted a 3-2 start to the 2019-20 season. The Bears posted a 71-44 season-opener debut on Nov. 6 against Central Penn, marking Kevin Broadus' first win as Morgan State's new head coach. The Bears fell on the road at Temple 75-57 (Nov. 9), followed by a 71-65 loss to Saint Francis-Pa. at Hill Field House. Morgan State snapped its 2-game skid by securing a 68-64 win at George Washington (Nov. 16) – it's first ever win against the Colonials -- followed by an 88-52 home win against Regent (Nov. 19).

BEAR NOTES: 
Morgan State is shooting 41.5 percent from the field and 24.3 percent from beyond the arc; the Bears shot a season-high 47 percent from the field vs. Central Penn (Nov. 6) ... Stanley Davis currently leads the Bears averaging 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists, including a 17-point effort (7-11 FG) to lead the Bears past George Washington (Nov. 16) … Troy Baxter posted his first double-double of the season during the win at George Washington (Nov. 16) … Baxter is averaging 6.8 rebounds and has multiple blocked shots in 4 of 5 games (2.6 bpg), including a 5 blocks in his season debut vs. Central Penn (Nov. 6) … Sherwyn Devonish-Prince has scored in double figures in all five games and is averaging 4.8 rebounds and 31 minutes per game ... David Syfax is 9-for-13 from the free throw line and is shooting 41.2 percent from the field and is averaging 7.8 points with 3.6 boards.  

AT THE FREE THROW LINE 
The Bears have shot 63.3 percent from the free throw line through five games this season, making 62 of 98 attempts. MSU shot a season-high 76.5 percent at the free throw stripe in the win against Regent (Nov. 19). 

DAVIS CHASIN' 1,000: 
Senior guard Stanley Davis needs 304 points to reach 1,000 points for his Morgan State career. Following his 13-point effort against Regent, he currently has 696 points.

WHO'S OUT
Tyler Streeter (Chicago, Ill./St. Francis de Sales HS), Antonio Gillespie (Memphis, Tenn./Memphis Central HS) and Martez Cameron (Chicago, Ill./Montverde Academy) wrapped up their collegiate careers and graduated last spring.

WHO'S BACK
The Bears return three starters from last year's team, bringing back guards Stanley Davis and Sherwyn Devonish-Prince, Jr and forward David Syfax. MSU also returns guards Isaiah Burke, Kyson Rawls, and Malik Miller, along with forwards LaPri McCray-Pace, Victor Curry and Malik Miller.

WHO'S IN 
The Bears have added several newcomers to the 2019-20 roster: F Troy Baxter; F Victor Okafor; G Thai're Vance; F Lagio Grantsaan; F Peter Sorber; G Cameron Shaw; F Jamar Brown.

RETURNING PRODUCTION NUMBERS 
Morgan State returns 75.6 percent of its scoring, 67.8 percent of its rebounding and 69.0 percent of its minutes played totals from last year's team. The team leaders in field goal percentage (Stanley Davis - .454 ), three-point percentage (Isaiah Burke, .370), free throw percentage (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr., .866), rebounding (David Syfax - 4.6 rpg), assists (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr., 2.2), steals (Stanley Davis, 1.1),  blocked shots (David Syfax, 0.6). and minutes played (Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr., 28.0).  Five (5) players who started in at least five (5) games a year ago also return - Devonish (30), Davis (25), Syfax (17 ), Curry (9), and McCray-Pace (8).

HOME GROWN 
Morgan State has seven players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Sophomore point guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. is from Bladensburg, Md. and graduated from Wise HS. Sophomore guard Isaiah Burke is from Annapolis and was a prep standout at Bowie HS, while senior forward Taron Oliver, Jr. played for Montrose Christian and is from District Heights, Md. Sophomore guard Malik Miller hails from Washington, D.C. and played at Friendship Tech Prep. Junior forward Victor Okafor is from Greenbelt, Md. and played at Eleanor Roosevelt HS. Freshman guard Thai're Vance is a product of Silver Spring, Md. and played at DeMatha Catholic HS. Cameron Shaw is a freshman guard from Baltimore who played at Loyola Blakefield HS.

BROADUS' STAFF
Morgan State head basketball coach Kevin Broadus' coaching staff enters their first season. The Bears coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Brian Merritt, Chretien Lukusa and Kevin Jones.
• Merritt  joins the Bears after serving the last two seasons as the Coordinator of Basketball Operations at LSU. Merritt, a native of St. Mary's County, Maryland, joined LSU prior to the 2017-18 season after serving as Director of Scouting/Recruiting for John Lucas Enterprises.
• Lukusa was previously spent five years on Binghamton's staff, including a pair of seasons on the coaching side. A 2011 Binghamton graduate who also earned his master's degree at the University, Lukusa returned to the program in 2014. After serving two seasons as the coordinator of player development, Lukusa earned a promotion to assistant coach in Summer 2016. 
• Jones was previously the assistant director of basketball operations and video coordinator at Radford University (2018-19) where he oversaw all things video and technology. Prior to Radford, Jones was an assistant coach at Norfolk State (2015-18) where he helped guide the Spartans to back-to-back second-place finishes in the MEAC and coached three All-MEAC guards.

THE NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The Bears will play three nonconference games against teams that made the NCAA tournament last season, including Temple (Nov. 9 in the road opener), Liberty (Nov. 22 in the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase) and Ohio State (Nov. 29). There's a Nov. 16 trip to George Washington to get the Bears a nonconference game in Washington, and the annual showdown with crosstown foe Towson is Dec. 4 at Hill Field House.

PREDICTED TO FINISH EIGHTH IN THE MEAC
The Morgan State men's basketball team has been tabbed to finish eigth in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Preseason Men's Basketball Poll the league announced.
• The Bears return three starters from last year's team, bringing back guards Stanley Davis and Sherwyn Devonish-Prince, Jr and forward David Syfax. MSU also returns guards Isaiah Burke, Kyson Rawls, and Malik Miller, along with forwards LaPri McCray-Pace, Victor Curry and Malik Miller.  
•MSU was selected to finish eighth in 2019-20, earning 101 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. North Carolina Central (203 points), who captured its third straight MEAC Tournament championship last season, edged out Bethune-Cookman (198 points) for first place honors, followed by defending regular-season champion Norfolk State.
• Eight (8) Bears are back from a team that placed 10th in the MEAC. Morgan State finished the year 6-7 in the conference and 9-21 overall. MSU's season ended with an 81-71 loss to Coppin State in the MEAC Tournament first round.
• The 2020 MEAC Basketball Tournament tips off March 10-14 at the Norfolk Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.  For more information about the MEAC and its sponsored sports, log on to www.MEACSports.com.

PRESEASON ALL-MEAC SELECTIONS
The Morgan State men's basketball team had a pair of Bears selected to the 2019-20 Preseason All-MEAC Team. Senior guard Stanley Davis was selected to the Second Team, while sophomore guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. was named to the Third Team.
• The most proven player on the roster is senior Stanley Davis, who led Morgan State in both scoring (12.5 per game) and rebounding (7.1). The latter number ranked seventh in the MEAC last season.
• Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. earned a place on the MEAC All-Rookie team by averaging 10.7 points as a true freshman.

BEARS TO HONOR ELIJAH CUMMINGS THROUGHOUT 2019-20 SEASON
Throughout the 2019-20 season, the Morgan State Bears student-athletes will celebrate the life of longtime Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings, who passed away on October 17, 2019, at the age of 68. In honor of Congressman Cummings and all of his many positive contributions to the University and his district, all Morgan State athletic teams will wear a special commemorative "EC" patch on their jerseys throughout the season. The Bears football team helmets will also be adorned with an EC decal.
• "Our department wanted to do something to recognize the many important contributions of the Honorable Elijah Cummings to the country, the City of Baltimore and Morgan State University," said Director of Athletics Edward Scott, Ph.D. "In speaking with our student-athletes, coaches and staff, we felt that the patches and decals would be the most appropriate way of demonstrating our appreciation to Regent Cummings and his family."
• The patch is a black circle with the initials "EC" in the center in orange letters and outlined in white. 
• Congressman Cummings has a long history with Morgan State University and over the years has been one of its most staunch supporters. In addition to hosting many of his youth workshops and annual career fairs at Morgan, he also served on the University's Board of Regents for 19 years after having been appointed in July 1999 (he missed one year due to other commitments at the time).

FOLLOW US IN CYBERSPACE 
There are many ways to keep up with MSU athletics online and on the go:
• Visit www.morganstatebears.com, the official web site of Bears athletics, for news, schedules, stats, bios and more. 
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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.