BALTIMORE – Coppin State’s Anthony Tarke had a monster game with a double-double 33 points with ten rebounds along with eight assists, four blocks and four steals to lead the Eagles to an 85-80 victory over UNC Greensboro on Thursday night at PEC Arena. The win for Coppin was its first of the season.
A redshirt senior from Gaithersburg, Md., Tarke was very efficient as well, making 11-of-13 field goals with a pair of threes while sinking 9-of-15 from the line. In just the second half, Tarke was a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor and scored 20 points while contributing seven rebounds, four assists, two blocks and three steals. Tarke is the first Division I player to go for that stat line since at least the 2010-11 season.
Anthony Tarke did not do it alone as his younger brother, freshman Nendah Tarke, had by far the best game of his young career with 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go with four rebounds.
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Chereef Knox was also in double figures with 11 points off the bench with three 3-pointers while Kyle Cardaci added nine points. Koby Thomas chipped in with seven points, seven rebounds and a pair of assists while notching his 1,000th career point by hitting a 3-pointer just 98 seconds into the game.
For the game, Coppin outshot the Spartans, 52.8% to 37.8, but UNC Greensboro stayed close by outrebounding the Eagles, 52-35 and scoring 26 second-chance points.
The teams were tied at 35 at the half, but Coppin opened the second period on a 10-2 run with Anthony Tarke scoring half of those points before assisting on Nendah Tarke’s breakaway dunk.
Coppin led by as many as 54-41 with 14:17 remaining but the Spartans fought their way back to within 54-52 before Anthony Tarke really took over. The 6-foot-6 tranfer from NJIT and UTEP started a Coppin run with a three-point play the old-fashioned way. After a Greensboro basket, he hit another layup before blocking a shot, rebounding the ball and taking it coast-to-coast for a slam. On the ensuing possession, he made another steal and converted on another three-point play to up the lead back to 64-54 with 8:08 left in the game.
Once again, Greensboro did not go away as they slowly cut the deficit to 83-80 with 23 seconds to go, but a steal by Nendah Tarke followed by a pair of free throws sealed the victory.
CSU is back in action on Sunday, December 13 when they host local rival UMBC in a 3 pm tipoff at PEC Arena.
Courtesy: Coppin State Athletics
