Morgan State ended a three-game losing slump by routing cross-town rival Coppin State, 80-51, on Feb. 9 at the CSU Physical Education Complex in Baltimore, Md.
Coppin State managed to keep the score close for just the first six minutes of the game before Morgan State eventually ran away with the lead. The Bears piled on points early and led 30-7 midway through the first half before taking a 46-18 lead at halftime.
The second half was no different, as Coppin State never came within 21 points of Morgan’s lead from that point forward.
Morgan’s win over Coppin was the biggest margin of victory since the Bears topped Howard University 90-58 on Jan. 9, 2010. The win also marked the 99th victory for Bears head coach Todd Bozeman since taking over the team in 2006.
“That was our best effort all year,” Bozeman said. “The whole year we’ve been trying to focus on keeping the turnovers down and rebounding, so we did those two things. I always knew we had it in us and it was just a matter of us focusing in and coming together.”
Morgan junior guard Justin Black led the Bears with a career-best 23 points along with six assists in the victory. Senior forward DeWayne Jackson followed up with 16 points with seven rebounds, while junior center Ian Chiles added 10 points and nine rebounds.
“We’ve been going through a real rough phase,” Black said. “This is one of the most talented teams since I’ve been here. Today we wanted to focus on getting loose balls and doing everything right. When you’re doing that, big shots happen.”
Coppin State was led by junior forward Michael Murray with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore guard Taariq Cephas added nine points.
Morgan State will next travel to Washington, D.C. to take on conference rival Howard on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
