BALTIMORE, Md (February 8, 2020) -- Three Bears scored in double-figures, and Morgan State defeated the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks 61-53 Saturday night at Hill Field House.
 
Senior forward David Syfax Jr scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds, sophomore Malik Miller added 13 points and six rebounds, and junior Troy Baxter Jr chipped in 12 points.
 
"We have enough to score against anybody, so we just got to play together as a team," head coach Kevin Broadus said.
 
Miller added three steals.
 
"I pride myself on defense first," Miller said. "I love stopping the best defender cause that's just what I like doing. But everything else just comes [naturally] as long as I play good defense."
 
Morgan State (13-12, 7-3 MEAC) improved their winning streak to four games behind a strong second half. 
 
"I'm just proud of the way these guys competed for 40 minutes," Broadus said. "We didn't have a bad start, we played hard and we played tough."
 
The last time the Bears faced the Hawks (3-20, 2-6 MEAC) was on Jan. 27th and the Bears started the game off down 18-2 but were able to walk away with a 56-50 win. 
 
"I knew [the Hawks] would be confident coming in here playing us because we got down 18 to two," Broadus said. "Our start was a lot better today and our defense was solid today." 
 
The teams were evenly matched in the first half as neither team could build a commanding lead.
 
Although there were no lead changes, there were a total of six ties for a total of 3:27. 
 
Morgan State led for the entire half and built their biggest lead of six points with eight minutes remaining after a jumper by Tahj-Malik Campbell. 
 
Troy Baxter started the game off hot for the Bears and scored 10 points in the first half. Miller, on the other hand, was doing it all for the Bears as he filled the stat sheet in the first half with six points, three rebounds, and three steals. 
 
Eastern Shore grabbed eight offensive rebounds which led to eight second-chance points in the first half. 
 
Both teams ended the game close in rebounding with the Bears outrebounding the Hawks by a slim 37-34 margin. 
 
Morgan State shot 44 percent (11-25) in the first half. The Hawks shot 31 percent (9-29) but were able to end the half down only 26-23. 
 
The Bears pulled away at the beginning of the second half.
 
Morgan State went on a 10-3 with 18 minutes remaining to build their largest lead of nine which continued to grow as the second half continued. 
 
The Bears held a 15 point lead for its largest lead of the night with six minutes remaining. 
 
A.J. Cheeseman fouled out with three minutes remaining and ended the game with 10 points and five rebounds for the Hawks. Ahmad Frost scored a team-high 15 points off the bench. 
 
The Bears shot 45 percent (21-47) and held the Hawks to 32 percent from the floor (19-59). The Bears also shot 71 percent (15-21) from the free-throw line.
 
"We got to stay hungry," Miller said. [We have to] make sure [we] compete every day and not take no days off, because if we take a day off somebody is gonna be working harder than us."
 
Next for the Bears are the North Carolina Central Eagles Monday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Hill Field House.