Coppin State falls at Illinois
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Coppin State’s season-opening four-game road trip continued with a 114-56 defeat to the University of Illinois at the State Farm Center Sunday night.
Coppin State (0-2 overall) had eight players reach the scoring column led by 11 points each from Jahvari Josiah and Christian Kessee. They combined to make 10 of 21 shots and helped Coppin State finish with 36 bench points.
Josiah missed all of last season while recovering from a torn ACL injury. He has quickly made up for lost time in Coppin State’s first two games of the games of the season. Providing a spark off the bench, he has scored in double figures in each of Coppin State’s first two games. Josiah is averaging 11 points per game, which is second on the team behind Arnold Fripp’s 11.5 point per game average.
Arnold Fripp and Daquan Brickhouse finished with seven points each for Coppin State.
With a team-best four assists, Taariq Cephas moved past Will Crandle and into seventh place all-time in program history in that category. He finished with three assists to raise his career total to 306.
Coppin State returns to action Wednesday night when it visits Notre Dame. That game begins at 7 p.m. and can be watched online for free at ESPN3.com.
Spartans struggle at Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Norfolk State men’s basketball team struggled to shoot from inside the arc, and the result was a 67-39 Virginia win over the Spartans on Sunday night in a non-conference matchup at John Paul Jones Arena.
The Spartans connected on 7-of-17 from 3-point range, or better than 41 percent. It was closer to the basket, though, where NSU could not get going, finishing 5-of-34 (14.7 percent) from 2-point range.
Junior Jeff Short was the lone bright spot for the Spartans, as he finished with a game-high 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting. He hit 4-of-7 from long range and added five rebounds. No other Spartan player had more than five points.
The Spartans hit 12-of-51 (23.5 percent) overall from the floor for the evening. Sunday marked NSU’s worst shooting percentage and lowest scoring output since hitting 10-of-46 (21.7 percent) in a 68-36 loss at Illinois State on Dec. 18, 2011.
Justin Anderson and Mike Tobey led Virginia with 11 and 10 points, respectively. UVa also shot 23-of-53 (43.4 percent) overall from the floor.
The Spartans will head back home to face Boston University Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall.
MEAC Media Relations
