Morgan State Notes  |  Longwood Notes |  MEAC Notes (PDF)  |   Purchase Tickets |   GAMEDAYGuide   
 Facebook.com/MorganStateBears   |    @MorganStBears

Game 11
Opponent: Longwood Lancers (3-4)
Date: Saturday, December 7, 2019
Site:  Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Game Time: 2 p.m. 
Live Stats: here | Live Video: here
Radio: Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.com)
MSU Coaches: MSU - Kevin Broadus (3-7, 1st yr) • Longwood - Griff Aldrich (20-23, 2nd yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.longwoodlancers.com

SETTING THE STAGE
The Morgan State Bears will host the Longwood Lancers on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. (EST) inside Hill Field House. The game will be broadcast on the Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN.com).

THE SERIES
• The series is tied 1-1.
• Morgan will face Longwood for the first time since a 76-51 win on Dec. 21, 2007 at Hill Field House.  Jamar Smith scored 13 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to help Morgan State pull away. Marquise Kately added 14 points (7-13 FG) and four assists, while Boubacar Coly finished one point shy of a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds and nine points.
• Longwood won the first meeting in the series on Feb. 3, 2007.  Brandon Giles finished with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, but none were bigger than his game-winning floater in the lane with three-tenths of a second remaining to lift the host Lancers to a 75-73 non-conference victory over Morgan State on Saturday evening at Willett Hall. After reviewing the play, the officials determined that there was still three-tenths of a second remaining on the clock after the basket. Once the crowd was cleared off the floor and the game clock reset, Morgan had one final chance, but Boubacar Coly's baseball pass down court was broken up and hit the floor as the horn sounded. The Bears were led by Ronald Timus, who finished with a game-high 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Jamar Smith added 21 points and Jerrel Green had 10 points and a game-high six assists.

SCOUTING LONGWOOD
● Head coach Griff Aldrich returns for his second season with the Lancers with a career record of 20-23.
● Longwood leads the Big South Conference in scoring defense, holding opponents to 64.6 points per game.
● The Lancers also rank third in opponent field percentage (.412) and fifth in opponent three-point field goal percentage (.325).
● Longwood has also yet to allow an opposing player to score 20 points this season. 
● DeShaun Wade and Christian Wilson rank among the top three in points off the bench. Wilson is the No. 2 scoring reserve in the Big South at 9.4 points per game while Wade ranks third with 8.4 points per game. 
● Wilson is also the team leading scorer. 
● Jordan Cintron is the team leading rebounder averaging 6.1 boards. Cintron is 4th in the Big South in rebounds per game. He also averages 7.5 points. 
● The Lancers are 0-5 on the road. 
● The Lancers return three starters and seven lettermen. 
● The Lancers were voted No. 6 in the Big South Preseason Poll.
● The Lancers rank among the top three teams in the Big South in three-pointers made.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE LANCERS
• A 16-4 run over the game's final 5:45 put North Carolina A&T over the top in a defensive battle against Longwood Wednesday evening at Corbett Sports Center
• Shabooty Phillips had 10 points for the Lancers (4-5), who have now lost four consecutive games.
• Longwood held a 37-38 lead with 5:45 to play when A&T's Devin Haygood scored on a jump shot, Ronald Jackson followed with a dunk and a 3-pointer as the Aggies pulled away.
• Christian Wilson, who led the Lancers in scoring heading into the contest with 9 points per game, had 2 one 1-for-9 shooting.
• Jaylon Wilson, the Lancers' second leading scorer heading into the contest scored four points on 1-for-5 shooting.

LAST TIME OUT FOR THE BEARS
• Morgan State (3-7) is coming off a 76-59 loss against Towson on Wednesday night inside Hill Field House.
• Stanley Davis led the Bears with 14 points and seven rebounds. Sherwyn Devonish-Prince added 11. 
• Towson scored 36 points off of the Bears' 18 turnovers. 
• Towson finished with 13 second-chance points on 15 offensive rebounds. 

CLOSE CALLS
• The Bears have started the 2019-20 season with a 1-3 record in games decided by 10 points or fewer, with a 71-65 loss to Saint Francis, followed by a 68-64 win at George Washington, and two close losses in The Islands of the Bahamas Showcase vs Milwaukee (62-57) and Evansville (115-112 3OT).
• After falling 81-71 on March 12 versus #7 seed Coppin State in the MEAC Tournament, Morgan State played 21 games during the 2019-20 season that was decided by 10 points or fewer. Of those games 17 were decided by seven points or fewer, including six by three points or fewer.

BEAR NOTES: 
Morgan State is shooting 40.5 percent from the field and 26.2 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, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists, including a 21-point effort in a triple overtime game versus Evansville (Nov. 24) … Troy Baxter posted his first double-double of the season during the win at George Washington (Nov. 16) … Baxter is averaging 6.4 rebounds and has 20 blocked shots (2.0 bpg), including a 5 blocks in his season debut vs. Central Penn (Nov. 6) … Sherwyn Devonish-Prince has scored in double figures in 8 of 10 games and is averaging 10.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 32.2 minutes per game ... David Syfax is 16-for-23 from the free throw line and is shooting 40.7 percent from the field and is averaging 6.6 points with 3.0 boards.  

AT THE CHARITY LINE
Morgan State is currently shooting 67.9 percent (148-218) from the stripe, led by  Kyle Rawls who is shooting 85.7 percent (18-21). Lagio Grantsaan is shooting 83.3 percent (5-6) and Stanley Davis 78.3 percent (36-46).
• The Bears completed the 2018-19 season ranked No. 4 in the conference in free throw percentage by shooting 71.3 percent (477-669) from the line. 
• Sherwyn Devonish-Prince led the MEAC by shooting 86.6 percent (97-112 FT), followed by Kyson Rawls who shot 82.1 percent from the line
(64-78; No. 5) and Stanley Davis is shooting 79.8 percent from the line (79-99; No. 9).

DAVIS CHASIN' 1,000
Senior guard Stanley Davis needs 240 points to reach 1,000 points for his Morgan State career. Following his 14-point effort against Towson (Dec. 4), he currently has 760 points.

40-AND-OVER CLUB
Four of Morgan State's primary shooting threats are at 40 percent or better from the field, led by Stanley Davis who is 44-for-94 (46.8%) from the floor; Isaiah Burke (33-for-75) is at 44.0 percent; Kyson Rawls (13-for-29) is at 44.8 percent; and David Syfax (24-for-59) is at 40.7 percent.
 

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. 
• Follow us on social media:

            Facebook: /MorganStateBears
            Twitter: @MorganStBears
            Instagram: /MorganStateBears

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.