A departure from its normal routine worked wonders for Coppin State last night.
For a change, the opponent wasn't from a major conference, the Eagles were at home and they didn't get major contributions from forward Stephen Stewart and guard Keith Carmichael.
In the only home game in their first 13, the Eagles enjoyed a 99-67 romp over Division II Bowie State that gave them their first victory and their 22nd in a row at the Coppin Center. Coppin State doesn't play there again until Jan. 14.
"It was nice that we got good games from some different people, but it was important just to get a win," said senior guard Sidney Goodman, who with a game-high 17 points led the Eagles in scoring for the third straight game. "We were starving for a win. We hadn't eaten in a while, and we needed to chew somebody up."
An early diet of Big East and Big Eight teams was responsible for Coppin State's 0-5 start, its worst since coach Fang Mitchell's first season in 1986-87. Seniors Stewart and Carmichael had been the Eagles' most consistent players, and when both got in early foul trouble last night, the bench came up big.
All of Coppin State's points came from reserves during a decisive 18-4 spurt that pushed the Eagles (1-5) to a 45-21 lead with 3:31 to go in the first half. Eight of the 18 came from senior forward Tariq Saunders, suspended last season but was Coppin State's top player two years ago, when it made its last trip to the NCAA Tournament.
After that, the Bulldogs never got closer than 20 points. The difference reached 30 five minutes into the second half, but Bowie State (4-6) briefly steadied itself and finished closer to the Eagles than some in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference will.
Coppin State got 16 points and nine rebounds from Saunders, and guards Marcus Robinson and Allen Watson combined for another 14 points off the bench. The Eagles also got 15 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks from senior center Michael Thomas, and 15 points from junior forward Kyle Locke.
Carmichael had 10 points and Stewart nine, the first time since last January he didn't score in double figures.
"When we played the Big Eight teams, they substituted freely and wore us down," Mitchell said. "Our bench hadn't been
contributing, but they gave us a lot tonight. We really needed that, especially from Tariq. He showed his old self tonight."
Senior guards Steve Marvin (Forest Park) and Warren Wright (Northwestern) each had 15 points for Bowie State, the only non-conference foe to come to the Coppin Center this season.
Bowie State and its first-year coach, Taft Hickman, jumped at the chance to give the five Baltimoreans on the Bulldogs' roster a homecoming. Hickman's roots are in Prince George's County, but he anticipates keeping open the pipeline from Baltimore to Bowie that his predecessor, Tyrone Hart, developed.
Hickman, who coached Bowie State for two seasons in the late 1970s, didn't rejoin the Bulldogs until after the start of the fall semester.
Bowie State, 3-3 in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, is off until Jan. 4, when it travels to the Indiana (Pa.) Classic. Coppin State resumes life on the road next Thursday, with a trip to Louisiana State and its first game against a Southeastern Conference foe.