by Keith Henry
Coppin State's Akeem Ellis converted two free throws with half a second left to enable Coppin to escape Hill Field House with the 88-86 win over the Morgan State Bears on Saturday night.
It was a battle of runs for both teams early as the Bears got off to a good start going ahead 16-8 on an Ian Chiles lay-up with 13:27 left.
One of the few bright spots for the Bears was the rebounding in which MSU outdid Coppin 42-31, which included a 17-8 spot on the offensive end. Morgan State head coach Todd Bozeman said, “We rebounded better than we had in the past. We came up short. But 19 assists was a plus on our part. There were some positives in it for us. Not that I'm a moral victory guy because I'm not. But we just got to keep getting better.”
Morgan State (5-15, 3-6 MEAC) held the advantage most of the game until late in the first half when Coppin went on a 15-4 run. Tony Gallo started it with a three, then Logan Wiens ended it with a jump shot, followed by a three with 7:04 remaining to give the Eagles a 29-27 advantage.
But the Bears fought back with a Chiles dunk and a couple of free throws from Kevin Thompson, who led Morgan with 19 points and 15 rebounds, which gave the Bears the 31-29 lead with 4:17 left.
Coppin State (12-11, 7-3 MEAC)closed the second half by outscoring the Bears 14-7. The run was led by Tony Gallo, who scored a game high 28 points. Gallo gave the Eagles the momentum when he picked the pocket of Larry Bastfield and converted the lay-up, giving the Eagles a 43-38 advantage with 29 seconds left. An advantage that Coppin State took into the locker room for halftime.
With 16:47 left in the second half and the game tied at 49, Morgan State pushed ahead on a couple of free throws from Aric Brooks, a Bastfield jumper, then a three point shot from Blake Bozeman. That run gave the Bears a 56-49 advantage with 15:30 left and some momentum on their side.
Coppin fought back later on in the half. After Bozeman gave the Bears a 65-59 advantage on a three, the Eagles scored the next 11 points. CSU point guard Taariq Cephas made a three, then Akeem Ellis converted one of two free throws, Antonio Williams converted a tough lay-up, Then Gallo hit a three from the outside corner. Lastly, Williams converted another lay-up off of Gallo's assist to give the Eagles a 70-65 advantage with 6:57 left.
Gallo said about the game, “We'll take it anyway we can on the road. We definitely got to mature a little, keep getting stops and put the game away a little earlier. But we didn't give up. That's really what counts.”
It came down to the last 20 seconds for both teams. Ellis converted one of two free throws to give the Eagles an 86-83 lead. Then Justin Black fed DeWayne Jackson who hit an off-balance three with 11.9 seconds left, tying the game at 86.
On Coppin's possession, Akeem Ellis had the ball and proceeded to drive it into the paint. As Ellis shot the ball, Kevin Thompson was called for a foul with a half second left, sending Ellis to the free throw line.
Ellis hit the first shot and then attempted to miss the second on purpose, but that shot went in. Justin Black nearly had the Morgan fans dancing in victory with a three-point attempt from the half court line. However, that shot just landed wide right and off the backboard which ended the game and some of Coppin's fans stormed onto Morgan State's floor.
Ellis said about the game winning free throws, “The free throws at the end was crazy. I wasn't really nervous. Coach told me it was practice everyday. It's something we do at least three times a day. So I just went up there, stepped up and knocked them down.”
CSU head coach Fang Mitchell said, “It's no question that (the free throws) was huge. I expected them to go in. The fact is (Akeem) made that first one and I didn't expect him to make the second one. But we'll take that anyway.”
Coppin State hosts Delaware State on Saturday @ 4 pm at the PEC.
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