Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman mentioned that he will gladly take this result and sleep well tonight. That's because his Bears overcame various free throw issues and turnover problems to knock off Delaware State 42-39 on senior night at Hill Field House. This also gives Bozeman his 100th career win as a coach at Morgan State.
On a night where no Bear had scored in double figures, they still found a way to win despite the Hornets' best efforts to slow the game down. "We tried to slow (Morgan State) down as much as possible," said DSU head coach Greg Jackson. "But you got to give Morgan State and Coach Bozeman a lot of credit. We tried to make the game ugly, we tried to slow it down. This proves that they can win either way."
The game was ugly all night long. It took the Bears nearly five minutes to register their first field goal of the game and just over 12 minutes to score double figures. Bozeman said, " It took everybody a little long. It just was one of those starts. This happens, so we started to work through it. Fortunately enough, we got a run and we got a lead. We didn't protect it too well. But we got one." However, the MSU defense turned it up late in the half, turning a 5-2 deficit into a 28-15 halftime advantage..
Adam Braswell made a huge difference according to Coach Bozeman. He led Morgan State (15-10, 10-3 MEAC) with nine points on the night. All of his points came from the three point arc and his shots came at critical times of the game.
Morgan State only made seven of 19 attempts at the free throw line and it nearly costed them. Delaware State (9-18, 5-9 MEAC) climbed back within 35-33 late in the game. But the Hornets failed to capitalize on their opportunities late as far as free throws and lay-ups are concerned. Braswell's clutch three with under three minutes left extended the lead to 39-33.
DSU cut the deficit again off of Morgan's two turnovers. That led to a pair of lay-ups which cut the deficit to 39-37 with less than a minute left. Morgan State turned the ball over 17 times overall.
But after two missed DSU free throws that could've tied the game at 39, Morgan State managed to put them away with a couple of free throws of their own. The rebounding saved the night for the Bears as they crushed the Hornets 42-24 on the boards. DeWayne jackson said about that, "Rebounding was always important. But Coach was telling us to don't let them come in here because they're a little team. So how are they going to out rebound us? So everybody was crashing the boards lke we're supposed to do every game."
Kevin Thompson led MSU with 12 rebounds on the night.
Morgan State still controls their own destiny for the MEAC regular season title. They just need to win their remaining road contests at North Carolina A&T, Norfolk State and cross-town rival Coppin State to win the regular season championship.
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