The Morgan State men’s basketball team defied the odds.
In the first game of a weekend series against the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s North Division-leading Coppin State, the Bears lost their head coach, Kevin Broadus, to two technical fouls and an ejection with less than 15 minutes left in the second half.
Seconds later, they trailed by 14 points. And they were overwhelmed by the Eagles at the free-throw line by a 21-attempt differential.
But those challenges simply made Morgan State’s 79-76 come-from-behind win Saturday afternoon at the Physical Education Complex in Baltimore all the more enjoyable.
“This team is built on grit,” said senior forward Troy Baxter, whose game-high 28 points propelled the Bears (9-4, 4-2 MEAC) to their third consecutive win. “Throughout the game, we had to find some type of energy through ourselves or anything else. I just feel like during that run, we were just giving ourselves and our energy, and we were just inspired at the same time. We just pretty much gave it our all. And in those final minutes, we just had to do it for Coach.”
Indeed, Saturday’s game seemed to turn on the 14:48 mark of the second half. Loudly protesting a non-call when junior shooting guard Malik Miller appeared to be fouled while driving to the basket, Broadus was assessed a technical foul by an official. When Broadus objected, he was tagged with another technical foul and ejected.
Broadus, who was replaced by assistant coach Kevin Jones because he had compiled most of the scouting report on Coppin State, said some of his ire stemmed from the Eagles making 16 trips to the free-throw line in the first half compared to zero for the Bears.
“He was clobbered,” Broadus said of Miller. “I’m very neutral about the referees because I know it’s an inexact science and they don’t get them all right. But I was kind of frustrated. They had shot 20 free throws or something like that to our zero in the first half, and when I’ve got a guy that goes to the basket and he gets fouled like that, it’s just like, just give me a fair call. That’s all I ask for.”
Baxter said Broadus’ ejection served as a rallying point.
“It pretty much just gave us a spark,” he said. “And in our heads, we pretty much had time. Our thing was we were not going to lose focus. We were going to be more focused in the game.”
A 3-pointer by redshirt sophomore shooting guard Kyle Cardaci capped a 9-2 run for Coppin State that gave the team a 55-41 advantage with 13:31 remaining. But the Bears outscored the Eagles, 38-21, for the rest of the game.
Despite getting outshot at the free-throw line by 21 attempts, Morgan State made its living crashing the boards. The Bears out-rebounded Coppin State, 55-38, and collected 17 offensive rebounds that they converted into 20 second-chance points compared to only four for the Eagles.
Coppin State coach Juan Dixon pointed to that statistic as well as his team’s 24-of-37 performance at the free-throw line as primary culprits in the setback.
“We know that their second-best offense besides transition is offensive rebounds and second-chance opportunities, and we didn’t do a very good job of securing the rebounds,” he said. “We didn’t do a very good job of making our free throws when we needed to, and getting our defense set in transition in the second half. I think they scored [46] points in the second half. That can’t happen.”
Broadus said rebounds are a top priority for every game.
“That’s what we do,” he said. “We emphasize toughness, and rebounding is a toughness thing, and that’s what we try to do every game. Our goal is to outrebound every team in every game. It was huge for us in reference to how we work every day in practice.”
Coppin State still had a chance to extend the game to overtime, but redshirt freshman forward Kenan Sarvan’s 3-point attempt from the left elbow was off-target, and his teammates could not gather the offensive rebound before the buzzer sounded.
Dixon said the final play was drawn up for Sarvan despite missing his first three attempts from 3-point range as he expected the Bears to focus much of their defensive attention to redshirt sophomore shooting guard Kyle Cardaci, who had gone 3-of-5 from long distance.
“I knew they would probably prevent Kyle from getting a shot,” he said. “We felt like we could get Kyle to set a screen on Kenan’s man, and he got a look. He’s shooting the ball extremely well in practice. He just has to find a way to carry that same mindset into the game and not put so much pressure on himself and just have a little fun.”
Besides Baxter, junior point guard Sherwyn Devonish-Prince Jr. compiled 14 points and six rebounds, junior shooting guard Trevor Moore totaled 13 points and nine rebounds, and junior shooting guard De’Torrion Ware came off the bench to contribute 13 points and nine rebounds (six offensive). But Baxter was the offense’s catalyst as he scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half and collected seven rebounds.
“I kind of just had to start all over,” he said. “I just had to get top the foul line and see a couple shots go in, and then my confidence went up toward the end of the game. … I just felt like it was my time to step up because in the first half, I wasn’t doing my best. And on top of all that, with the situation that happened with Coach in the second half, I just had to step up as a player and a leader on the team.
The Eagles (6-10, 5-2) were paced by Cardaci’s 21 points and four rebounds and redshirt senior shooting guard Anthony Tarke’s 16 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and four steals.
Dixon said any blame for the loss should be directed at him.
“I let the intensity fall off,” he said. “[Associate head] coach John [Auslander] said it. He said, ‘Guys, don’t let these technicals [on Broadus] keep you from going.’ And I didn’t do a very good job of helping our guys maintain that intensity, their focus, their attention to detail. It will never happen again. We are confident that we can come back in the next game and get a win. We do feel like that as a family, we let one slip away. For us to continue to grow and play as a championship-caliber team, we have to learn how to finish these games. We have to learn how to develop that killer instinct by simply being dominant when you need to be dominant.”
Sunday’s games involving the women’s and men’s teams have been moved to Tuesday due to the expected winter storm. The women will tip off at 5:30 p.m., and the men are scheduled to begin at 8 p.m.
MORGAN STATE@COPPIN STATE
Tuesday, 8 p.m.