North Carolina Central 86, Bethune-Cookman 59
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – North Carolina Central University shot a scorching-hot 59.6 percent from the floor to speed past Bethune-Cookman, 86-59 on Saturday, Jan. 18 inside Moore Gymnasium.
With the win, the NCCU (7-11, 3-1 MEAC) collected its first win in Moore Gym since Feb. 14, 2015 when the Eagles defeated B-CU (9-10, 3-2 MEAC), 72-49. The Wildcats had won the last three meetings at home.
B-CU took a 5-0 lead to start the game, but after that NCCU took a tight grip of the game on the back of a 12-0 run that eventually led to a 25-6 run. The Eagles led by as many as 21 as Deven Palmer (Hyde Park, Mass.) capped the first half with a three-pointer to give NCCU a 49-28 advantage at the midway point.
At one point, the Eagles had made seven consecutive field goals, and the squad shot 60.6 percent from the field (20-for-33) as a team in the first 20 minutes. Jibri Blount (Pittsburgh, Pa.) led the line as he shot 9-for-11 and scored 20 points, while the maroon and gray held the Wildcats to 30.3 percent shooting in the first period.
The Wildcats turned the tables out of the locker room as they started the second period on a 7-0 run, but the Eagles quickly regained their footing and continued on the hot-shooting trend they established in the first half. C.J. Keyser (Baltimore, Md.) scored 12 points in the second half in his return to the lineup and finished with a new season-high of 18 points to help the Eagles to an 86-59 win.
Coppin State 79, North Carolina A&T 75
BALTIMORE – Baltimore native Brendan Medley-Bacon registered career-highs 19 points and 14 rebounds to go with four blocks to lead the Coppin State men’s basketball team to a come-from-behind 79-75 MEAC victory over North Carolina A&T Saturday afternoon at PEC Arena.
South Carolina State 81, Florida A&M 65
ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Nasir Core scored 15 points, including three 3-pointers, but it wasn’t enough as the Florida A&M University men’s basketball team could not slow down a hot-shooting South Carolina State team on Saturday afternoon in an 81-65 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) loss at the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.
Florida A&M (4-12 overall, 2-3 MEAC) led by as many as nine points in the first half but took a four-point lead into the break. South Carolina State (8-8, 3-1) shot 61.5 percent (16-of-26) in the second half to pull away for the 81-65 victory.
Core led four Rattler players in double figures with 13 of his 15 points coming in the first half. He also recorded a team-high four assists and three rebounds. Evins Desir finished with 12 points and a team-high six boards, while MJ Randolph tallied 12 points, two assists, two steals and one rebound. Rod Melton chipped in 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Damani Applewhite paced South Carolina State with a game-high 22 points, nine rebounds and one assist, while Jahmari Etienne added 12 points, three steals, three assists and two boards. Zach Sellers registered 10 points and three assists and Ian Kinard pulled down a game-high 10 boards.
Morgan State 68, Howard 58
BALTIMORE, Md. — Sophomore Malik Miller notched his second career double-double and the Morgan State Bears defeated the Howard Bison 68-58 Saturday in to end a two-game losing skid.
Miller finished with 12 points,a game-high 12 rebounds and added three assists off the bench for the Bears.
The Bears improved to 9-11 overall and 3-2 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with the win. Howard slips to 2-17 overall and 0-5 in conference play and now trail the Bears 65-45 in the all-time series.
Morgan State had a 1-10 record when trailing at halftime entering this conference matchup, however, they were able to capitalize on a strong second half to defeat the Bison.
Though the Bears struggled to make shots in the first half, they were able to stay within reach of the Bison and closed the half only down 26-23.
In the first half, Howard shot 40 percent from the field (11-27) while Morgan State struggled to find the bottom of the net as they shot 25 percent (8-32).
Howard took advantage of Morgan State’s shooting woes and led for all but 38 seconds in the first half. The Bison was able to garner their largest lead of eight after a C.J. Williams (12 points) jumper increased their lead to 16-8 at the 11:28 mark of the first half.
Morgan State’s only first-half lead came from sophomore Isaiah Burke (11 pts) who scored the opening basket of the ballgame.
Norfolk State 62, Maryland Eastern Shore 52
NORFOLK, Va. – Tyrese Jenkins went for a career-high 19 points in leading the Norfolk State men’s basketball team to a 62-52 win over Maryland Eastern Shore in a MEAC contest on Saturday evening at Joseph Echols Hall.
The Spartans took sole possession of first place in the MEAC as the only undefeated team left in the league at 4-0. The freshman Jenkins played a big part in that, more than tripling his previous career-high of six points. He was one of just two players for NSU in double figures.
In the end, Norfolk State won despite shooting just 29 percent from the floor in the second half. A 16-of-20 effort from the free-throw line – 20-of-26 for the game – made the difference.
The Spartans won their fourth in a row, running their overall record to 8-11. In addition to Jenkins, senior Jermaine Bishop scored 17 points on 5-of-12 shooting, 4-of-8 from deep.
The Hawks fell to 2-17 overall, 1-3 in the league.
The Spartans finally took the lead for good late in the first half. They led by as much as 15 in the second half, but the Hawks did not go away.
Up by six at the half, the Spartans scored nine of the first 11 points coming out of the locker room. Four free throws from junior Devante Carter later made it 42-27 five and a half minutes in. The Hawks, however, scored the next eight points to cut the deficit to seven.
Courtesy: MEAC
