ORANGEBURG, S.C. – Coppin State's men's basketball team got back in the win column with an 84-60 MEAC victory at South Carolina State on Monday night. The Eagles now stand at 5-21 overall with a 5-6 mark in the MEAC while the Bulldogs fall to 8-17 on the year and 4-6 in conference play.
The 84 points for Coppin was a season-high and the most points the Eagles have scored since February 20, 2017 in a win at Savannah State which was also the last time the Navy & Gold won a road game. Coppin used a well-balanced scoring effort, where all ten players who entered the game scored, to shoot a season-high 52.6% from the floor.
Lamar Morgan tallied a game-high 16 points while making 4-of-6 from behind-the-arc.
Lucian Brownlee added 15 points with three 3-pointers off the bench while
Karonn Davis and
Chad Andrews-Fulton pitched in with ten points apiece. Andrews-Fulton finished a rebound shy of a double-double while Davis dished out a game-high seven assists.
Adam Traore was very efficient off the bench as well, registering nine points and seven rebounds in just 19 minutes of action while
Cedric Council finished with eight points.
KeAndre Fair also made a pair of triples for six points.
South Carolina State scored the first five points of the game, but after Council put Coppin on the board followed by a Bulldogs jumper with 17:15 left in the first, the Eagles scored 11-straight points over the next 2:11 to take a 13-7 lead. Coppin's run started with a jumper by Davis, followed by a pair of three's by Morgan and another by Fair.
Patrell Rogers stopped the bleeding briefly for the Bulldogs but the Eagles stretched their lead into double digits with an 11-2 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes. Coppin was able to extend its advantage to as many as 22 points at 38-16 with just over five minutes remaining in the period but South Carolina State was able to cut the deficit to 46-31 at the half.
Both teams traded baskets for the first several minutes of the second half, but the Eagles began to pull away late in the period and led by as many as 82-55 after a pair of Brownlee free throws with 3:23 left in regulation.
The Navy & Gold held the Bulldogs to just 40.4% shooting and forced South Carolina State into 12 turnovers which led to 19 Coppin points. The Eagles also made an impressive 12-of-26 (46.2%) from 3-point range and were credited for 16 assists compared to just 11 turnovers.
Coppin returns to the friendly confines of PEC Arena on Monday, February 12 at 7:30 pm.
