sher
Courtney Souvenir
58
Winner NCCUM NCCUM 12-12, 8-2 MEAC
57
MORGAN STATE MSUM 13-13, 7-4 MEAC
Winner
NCCUM NCCUM
12-12, 8-2 MEAC
58
Final
57
MORGAN STATE MSUM
13-13, 7-4 MEAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
NCCUM NCCUM 25 33 58
MORGAN STATE MSUM 24 33 57

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | MSU Athletic Communications

Bears drop to fourth in MEAC, lose 58-57

Bear Shots

BALTIMORE, Md. (February 11, 2020) -- Jibri Blount's basket with 2 seconds left lifted the North Carolina Central to a 58-57 win over Morgan State in a dramatic Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference showdown Monday night at Hill Field House.

With this loss, Morgan State drops to fourth place in the conference standings behind Norfolk State who sits at 7-2. N.C. Central goes to 12-12 overall and takes over first place with an 8-2 mark. 
 
"Our defense has to be sharper," said junior forward Troy Baxter.
 
After a slow start in the first half, the Bears began the second half with an 11-3 run to capture a 35-28 lead. Their first lead since the beginning of the game. 
 
However, the Eagles, the three-time defending MEAC champions, did not back down as they went on a 12-2 run of their own to regain a 40-37 lead. 
 
The second half saw the Eagles and Bears each have the lead eight times and come to a standstill with three ties. The game would come down to the wire as three of those lead changes were in the final minute. After a Nicholas Fennel hit a layup to give the Eagles a 56-55 lead, the Bears would not retake the lead until there were 14 seconds remaining. Malik Miller finally regained the lead for the Bears after a layup put the Bears up 57-56.
 
With 14 seconds remaining, and the final possession of the game the Eagles converted on their attempt to seal the victory after a scramble for the ball left Jibri Blount open for a layup that left the crowd stunned. The Bears had 2.2 seconds left to score without advancing the ball, and a half-court heave that nearly went in. 
   
"We had multiple opportunities to win that game and we didn't," said head coach Kevin Broadus. "We got to cut down on our turnovers and play smarter, especially against good teams."
 
The Bears finished with 16 turnovers, while the Eagles finished with 13.
 
Blount finished with a game-high 20 points and nine rebounds. Deven Palmer added 17 points and six rebounds.
 
Each Morgan State player who received minutes scored at least once. Baxter, 12 points and three blocks, and Miller, 10 points and eight rebounds, were the leading scorers for the Bears. 
 
"We're definitely deep in the bench," Stanley Davis said. "Everybody's ready. Everybody competes in practice. It always starts in practice. Once everybody gets the groove we're unstoppable."
 
It was a slow start for the Morgan State Bears as they found themselves fighting back at the beginning of the first half and struggling to get rebounds.
 
Nine of 10 the Eagles' first points were off of second-chance points. The Eagles grabbed four offensive rebounds, which were all of their rebounds with 15 minutes remaining, and converted them all into points.
 
N.C. Central finished with 11 second-chance points and 32 rebounds (eight offensive). The Bears finished with 36 rebounds, 11 offensive, and 15 second-chance points. 
 
The Bears found themselves down 11, the Eagles largest of the first half, with 12 minutes remaining. 
 
Palmer led the Eagles with 11 points in the first half. 
 
"We were getting out of character at times," Broadus said. "As a team when you have a good team, it doesn't matter who scores. It matters if your team is playing defense and I don't think our defense was good the first half."
 
The Bears would not allow the Eagles to take complete control of the game as they went on a six-minute 10-4 run to cut the Eagles lead to 22-20. 
 
Morgan State's bench had 13 bench points in the first half. They finished with 16.
 
Both teams did not shoot well in the first half as the Bears shot 28 percent (6-21) and the Eagles shot 33 percent (9-27), but that did not translate to the second half.
 
Morgan State shot 45 percent in the second half (14-31) while the Eagles shot 52 percent (11-21) in the second half. 
 
"We want to bounce back," Davis said. "Definitely want to bounce back and get ready for Saturday [and get] ready for Norfolk they're the top team in the league right now."
 
Next up for the Bears are the Norfolk State Spartans Feb.15 in Norfolk, VA at Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall at 6:30 p.m. 

Bear Notes
▪️N.C. Central improved to 54-40 in the series.
▪️Washington Wizards star John Wall was in attendance along with former MSU standout Tiwian Kendley.


 
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