Men’s Hoops Goes Cold in Second Half in Loss at Navy

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Coppin State's men's basketball team played nearly even with Navy for the first 20 minutes, but the Midshipmen used a long run to open the second half and defeated the Eagles, 77-58, on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall.

The Basics

• Final Score: Coppin State 58, Navy 77
• Records: Coppin State 0-3 (0-0 MEAC) / Navy 1-2 (0-0 PL)
• Location: Annapolis, Md. (Alumni Hall)
• Series History: Navy Leads, 3-1

How It Happened:
First Half

• Navy got out to a strong start with the game's first four points and went on 8-2 run to take a 17-10 lead with 9:52 left as George Kiernan caught fire.
• Dejuan Clayton stopped the bleeding with a three and went to work leading Coppin back into the game with ten of the team's next 17 points to cut the deficit to a single point with 3:28 remaining.
• Midshipmen Ryan Pearson and CSU's Lamar Morgan traded threes and a pair of free throws by Kent Auslander gave the Eagles its first lead at 32-31.
• Just before the buzzer, Navy's Josiah Strong hit a three from the corner to give the Mids a 34-32 halftime lead.
• Clayton scored 13 points in the period which matched a season-high at the time while Kiernan led Navy with 12 over the first 20 minutes.
• Freshman and Baltimore native Brendan Medley-Bacon had a strong effort on the defensive end with three blocked shots and matched Justin Steers with a team-high four rebounds in the half.

Second Half

• Following a layup by Morgan to open the half, Navy scored 11 straight points to force a Coppin timeout at the 16-minutes media mark.
• The Mids extended their run to 19 straight points over a 5:56 stretch before Nigel Marshall buried a three from the corner at the 13:30 mark.
• Navy answered right back with a quick layup and a pair of free throws, and following a three by Auslander, responded right back with a bucket and took a 59-40 lead at the under-12 media.
• Coppin played even with Navy for the remainder of regulation but could not overcome the deficit as it shot just 31.3% in the period compared to 50% for the Midshipmen.

Inside the Numbers

• Lamar Morgan and Dejuan Clayton both scored 13 points to lead the Eagles.  All of Clayton's points came in the first half.
• Kent Auslander scored eight points and pulled down six rebounds in his first career start while Nigel Marshall added seven points and five rebounds.
• Brendan Medley-Bacon had a great defensive showing with a team-high seven rebounds and four blocks while scoring four points.
• Navy had four players in double figures, led by George Kiernan's 21 points and nine rebounds.

 Up Next

• Coppin heads down I-95 for a date with 4^th-ranked Virginia in Charlottesville on Friday, November 16 at 7 pm.