Coppin State falls in thriller to Eastern Kentucky

BALTIMORE – Playing its first home game in 20 days, the Coppin State men's basketball team dropped a heartbreaking 66-63 decision to Eastern Kentucky in a non-conference contest at the Physical Education Complex Tuesday afternoon.
 
Coppin State (1-13 overall) had three players reach double figures led by senior guard Taariq Cephas, who scored 17 points and handed out seven assists. Christian Kessee finished with 13 points and Sterling Smith added 10 points along with five rebounds. Arnold Fripp had 10 rebounds, the second straight contest with double-digit caroms.
 
Eastern Kentucky (7-5) guard and Baltimore-native Denzel Richardson made a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner in front of his team's bench with .3 seconds remaining that was the difference. Richardson was open because Coppin State's defense swarmed all over Corey Walden, who had already scored a career-high tying 33 points on 13-of-16 shooting. Walden drove hard to the basket and fired a pass to Richardson.
 

Richardson's basket answered Dallas Gary's old-fashioned hoop-and-harm (better known in the streets as an 'and-one') with 26 seconds remaining that tied the game at 63. Gary's basket completed a Coppin State mini-rally from a 61-57 deficit with 3:04 remaining.
 
"We kind of had the right idea which was to force the ball out of Corey's hands," Cephas said. "I just think we over-helped because we had about four guys go to him. That gave No. 3 an open look. Give him credit because he hit a big shot. That's part of basketball. You couldn't ask for a better situation than that for us because you had a guy who has only attempted 26 3-pointers coming into the game. We wanted somebody else to beat us and that's what happened."
 
While Richardson's late shot was a dagger, the Eagles didn't do themselves any favors as they committed a season-high 26 turnovers and made 3-of-8 free throws in the final four minutes of the game. Overall, Coppin State was 9-for-17 from the charity stripe. Coppin State entered the game averaging 11 turnovers.
 
Those numbers negated Coppin State's best shooting performance of the season at 50 percent (21-for-42) and the 12 3-pointers it made during the game. Coppin State also won the rebounding battle for the second time in three games, 32-29. Defensively, the Eagles limited the Colonels to 41.8 percent shooting. EKU entered the game shooting 48 percent or better in three of its last four games.
 
Also making life hard for the Eagles was playing without senior guard Daquan Brickhouse, who had reached double figures in three of his last four games. He was another ballhandler that could have helped against the Colonels stifling pressure.
 
After sprinting to an early 17-7 lead following five made 3-pointers in the opening five minutes, Coppin State had six consecutive empty possessions (five turnovers, one missed shot) over the next four minutes that enabled the Colonels to tie the game, 17-17.
 
From that point on the remaining 31 minutes of the game was played within a five-point window, setting the stage for the frantic finish. The exciting game featured 22 lead changes and six ties.
 
"I think we are getting better as a team," Coppin State head coach Michael Grant said. "We have to continue to get better, share the ball and make plays. Even though Eastern Kentucky beat us on paper today, I think we beat ourselves because we didn't do a good job from the free-throw line and we didn't take care of the basketball. To make 26 turnovers is very uncharacteristic of our team. We have to continue playing together, working hard and trying to find a way to win."
 
While the losses are tough, Coppin State entered the game having played the 20th toughest schedule in all of Division I men's basketball. The Eagles are the only school in the MEAC with a SOS under 100. The next school is Morgan State, which SOS is 101.
 
Eleven of the Eagles' 13 opponents that defeated them currently have winning records. Six of Coppin State's losses are to teams ranked in the top 100 of the ESPN Basketball Percentage Index (BPI), most of any school in the MEAC.
 
Coppin State concludes its non-conference schedule Saturday night when it visits Akron. Game time is 7:00 p.m.