Boxscore
BALTIMORE, Md. (November 6, 2019) -- Stanley Davis scored 14 points, David Syfax Jr. added 13 points and Morgan State made Kevin Broadus a winner in his first game as coach of the Bears with a 71-44 win over Central Pennsylvania on Wednesday night before a raucous crowd at Hill Field House.
"It feels very good," Broadus said about the victory. "I didn't know what to think after last night. You see some of the scores today and you don't want to be on the light side when you see the box scores on the ticker. We got a ways to go but we're going to come back to work tomorrow and try to get better."
The Bears began the game by stifling the Knights' offense and jumping out to an early lead. A layup by sophomore Malik Miller gave Morgan State a 21-6 lead with 10:37 left in the first half.
Junior newcomer Troy Baxter struggled shooting the ball in his Morgan debut, but he certainly made his presence felt on the defensive end by collecting a game-high five blocks.
"I was a little rusty at the beginning," Baxter said. "I was trying to find my shot. I kind of got in my own head a little bit. I wasn't knocking shots down, but I gained some confidence in the second half."
Baxter finished with 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Davis felt the new players on the team such as Baxter played well.
"I feel like they gave effort," Davis said. "It's always new chemistry coming through. They played well and we're going to get better and we'll get ready for Saturday."
Sophomore guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. added 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Morgan State pressured the Knights full court causing 12 turnovers in the first half. The Bears were able to score 15 points of the Knights turnovers en route to their largest lead of the first half 36-16 with 2:59 left in the first half.
"That's what we said from day one," Broadus said. "That's who we are we're going to be. We're going to pressure you as much as we can. We got enough guys and we can play 94 feet. We want to wear you down."
The Bears scored 28 points off of the Knights' 22 turnovers for the night.
However, the Bears also finished with double-digit turnovers (17) of their own.
Broadus noted the turnovers and three-point defense as some of the things they have to fix as the season continues.
"We have to cut down on our turnovers," Broadus said.
Central Penn guard Marqel Wansley made three of the Knights five three-pointers. Wansley finished with 13 and Deon Tabb had 11 for the Knights, who shot just 32%.
"We should have been better at three-point defense tonight," added Broadus. "We have to learn from it and we have to come in tomorrow and get better and practice on taking away the three points shots. We're going to play some teams that can really stroke the three-point shot and have better talent than what we saw tonight," Broadus added.
Morgan State travels to Philadelphia, Pa. to face the Temple University Owls Saturday, November 9 at 2 p.m.
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.
