NEWARK, Del. (December 21, 2020) – Morgan State entered tonight's contest attempting to bounce back from a tough home loss and win its second road contest of the season.
Senior standout
Troy Baxter scored 12 of his team-high 22 points in the first half Monday night, pacing Morgan State to a 65-59 non-conference win against Delaware at the Bob Carpenter Center.
Morgan State improved to 3-2 with the win, while the Blue Hens fall to 2-3.
Junior
Lagio Grantsaan scored 13 points with seven rebounds and two steals for Morgan State, which won in its first meeting between the teams.
Ryan Allen scored 16 of his team-high 22 points on 7-for-14 shooting. Kevin Anderson, who entered as the Blue Hens top scorer (15 ppg), was held to 12 points on just 2-of-13 shooting and was 0-for-7 from 3-point territory. Johnny McCoy added 12 points and five rebounds.
Morgan State and Delaware were tied in the first 9 minutes of the ballgame at 12 apiece. Baxter scored 7 of the Bears first 12 points, while the Blue Hens started off the night shooting just 2-for-10 from beyond the arc.
The Bears took its first lead when junior De'Torrian Ware knocked in a deep jumper, followed by a fadeaway jumper by Grantsaan to put Morgan up 16-12 with just under 8 minutes left in the half.
A pair of free throws by Anderson broke a two-minute scoring drought and the Blue Hens trailed 16-14.
Baxter continued his hot shooting and his 3-pointer with just under 4 minutes remaining gave the Bears a 24-18 lead. Morgan went into the halftime break with a 28-25 lead.
Morgan held the Blue Hens to 29.2 percent shooting from the field and just 2-for-15 from beyond the arc in a low-scoring first half, but Allen kept Delaware close by leading his team with 16 points (5-7 FG).
Alek Novakovich hit a 3-pointer as part of a 6-0 run to give the Blue Hens a spark. Dylan Painter capped the run by hitting a pair of free throws to push the lead to 35-31 with 16 minutes left to go.
The lead was exchanged seven times over the next four minute stretch.
Morgan wound up taking advantage of a 3.5 minute scoring drought by the Hens. Junior
Trevor Moore connected on a 3-pointer as part of an 8-2 run to give the Bears 49-43 lead with under 8 minutes remaining. Grantsaan nailed a 3-pointer to extend the Bears lead to a 54-47, but Ryan Allen answered with a 3-pointer – his first basket of the second half -- to trim the lead to 54-50 with 4:28 left to go.
The Bears held a 4-point lead with 3 minutes to go before Allen was fouled on a defensive rebound. He hit both free throws to cut Morgan's lead to 54-52. Baxter was fouled and hit two free throws to put the Bears up 56-52.
Second chance opportunities led to a 3-pointer by Allen to cut the lead to 56-55, however Baxter finished with a layup to give the Bears a 58-55 edge with 1:07 to go.
Following an MSU timeout, Allen's shot at the rim was partially blocked by Baxter. Junior
Sherwyn Devonish was fouled on the ensuing possession. He knocked in both free throws to push the lead to 60-55. The Bears got a key offensive rebound and junior
Malik Miller (5 pts, 10 rebs) was fouled on a putback. He converted the 3-point play to give the Bears a 6-point cushion as the Bears came away with a 65-59 victory.
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution offering more than 126 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.
