DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Coppin State pulled out a close, 76-73 road win at Bethune-Cookman on Monday, January 9
th in the ICC Center. Senior
Joshua Treadwell came off of the Eagles bench and finished with a team-high 18 points. Coppin State's bench outscored the Wildcats bench 35-6.
Coppin State improves to 3-15 overall and 2-1 in the MEAC. Bethune-Cookman falls to 3-13 overall and 0-3 in the conference.
The Eagles dished out a team season-high 19 assists and had ten different scorers. Freshman
Dejuan Clayton finished with seven assists and scored nine points. Senior
Keith Shivers was the other Eagle to reach double figure scoring with ten points and had four assists. Junior
Tre' Thomas had nine points and senior
Chas Brown finished with eight points.
Coppin State's bench scored 23 of 35 first half points. Treadwell had seven in the half as the Eagles shot 42% from the field. Bethune-Cookman had their biggest advantage of the game early on (13-4), but the Eagles quickly grabbed the momentum and took the lead at the 11:34 mark. Sophomore
Lucian Brownlee scored five quick points anchoring the CSU comeback during the stretch. In the final seconds of the first half CSU's Shivers hit a long jumper extending the Eagles lead to 35-30 at the half.
At the beginning of the second half the Eagles were hot from downtown stretching their lead to double-digits (43-33) within the first two minutes. Brown and Thomas kept the Eagles in front with timely scoring through the first ten minutes. By the 8:25 mark of the second half, Bethune-Cookman stormed back and led 59-58. Treadwell rallied the troops for a final run and scored 11 second half points. His three-pointer with five minutes to go gave the Eagles a 66-64 advantage in a tight MEAC contest.
The Wildcats held a slight 71-70 lead and then a slam dunk by Brown put Coppin State ahead (72-72) with 1:59 to go. In the final two minutes Coppin State made all four of their free-throws holding off the Wildcats comeback. Shivers made a pair and Treadwell sealed the victory with two more free-throws with 13-seconds on the clock extending the CSU lead to three (76-73). In the end Coppin State's defense forced a final turnover and the Eagles held on for a 76-73 road victory.
Coppin State returns to the Physical Education Complex on Saturday, January 14th for an afternoon contest against North Carolina A&T at 4 p.m. The Eagles lead the all-time series against the Aggies 39-21 and have won the last four games in the series dating back to the 2013-14 season. Last season, Coppin State eliminated NC A&T from the 2016 MEAC Tournament with a double overtime victory, 98-91.
