Ellis' late basket clinches Coppin victory

by Keith Henry

It was a roller coaster ride that ended happily for Coppin State. Akeem Ellis grabbed a big rebound off of a missed three-point attempt from Michael Harper and hit a short jumper with 6.7 seconds left to help the Eagles defeat Navy 65-64 tonight at the PEC.

Ellis described the play this way, "Mike shot the ball, I grabbed the board. All I knew was that we was down. So I just went back in. Then (Navy) came back down, they missed it and Tony (Gallo) got the rebound and that was the end of the ballgame."

Coppin's grit inside the paint decided the match-up in only the second ever meeting between these teams. CSU head coach Ron "Fang" Mitchell said, "It might've been a roller coaster ride, but I'm real proud of them for not quitting when things got tough. Couldn't make a shot for a while, but they kept playing hard and we found a way to win. We got to give credit to Akeem for the last rebound. He just went up and got that. That was big. We beat a pretty good basketball team."

Navy head coach Billy Lange said, "Anytime you don't get a defensive rebound off of a stop for the game, it's critical. And we didn't get it. They got it. That's what it is. We got our share off the free throw line. We came up with some big offensive rebounds, but on the one we needed, we didn't get it."

Navy (4-7) got off to a good start in the first half as they were drilling it from three-point range early. The Midshipmen made four three point shots during that stretch. Greg Brown, who led Navy with 14 points on the night, contributed two of his four three-point baskets in the run. A lay-up from James Loupos gave the Midshipmen a 18-5 lead,which was their biggest of the game with 12:02remaining.

However, Coppin State (3-3) fought back. The combination of Ellis and point guard Tony Gallo, who scored 19 points, brought the Eagles back as part of a 15-2 run. Ellis led everyone with 20 points and 12 rebounds in the game. A three from Ellis tied the game at 20 with 7:48 left. Coppin eventually took the lead 23-22 on a three-point play from Gallo with 6:32 remaining. Coppin led 36-32 at the half.

In the second half, the Eagles were able to extend the lead through the efforts of Gallo and Ellis. Branden Doughty's lay-up gave the Eagles a 46-36 lead with 14:40 left.

However, Navy got back into it with their defense and rebounding. Navy outscored Coppin 18-5 over the next 7:37, holding them to only one field goal during the outburst. Brown's lay-up gave Navy a 54-51 lead with 7:03 left in regulation.

Coppin fought back and took a 61-59 lead on a three from Gallo with 1:46 left.

Also pretty critical to the Eagles was the return of Coppin point guard Vince Goldsberry, who hurt his ankle earlier in the season. Goldsberry played 25 minutes, only scoring four critical points and recording two rebounds. Vince said about his return, "I was just trying to play through the pain because I'm not sure if I was supposed to be playing today. But I could see that the team needed me. So, I just wanted to do everything I could just to help the team."

Vince helped down the stretch. After J.J. Avila's three gave Navy the advantage again at 62-61, he made one of his jumpers with 45 seconds left to give the Eagles a 63-62 lead again.

Fang said, "No question. having Vince here today helped us. With him being out for the last two games. He hit a big shot for us today down the stretch. I have a lot of confidence in Vince. He had a lot of confidence in himself. That was a situation in that he did what he was supposed to do."

Coppin gets back on the hardwood on Saturday evening to host NAIA opponent West Virginia Tech @ 4:30 pm at the PEC.