BALTIMORE, Md. – Lamar Morgan matched his career-high with 30 points but it was not enough for Coppin State's men's basketball team to fend off Hampton University as the Pirates were victorious, 82-79 on Monday night at the PEC Arena. The loss drops the eagles to 5-22 overall and 5-7 in the MEAC while Hampton improves to 13-14 with an 8-4 mark in conference play.
A junior from Willingboro, N.J., Morgan buried a career-high eight three-pointers on 14 attempts and made 9-of-17 overall from the floor. Morgan also made 4-of-5 from the line and finished a rebound shy of a double-double with a team-high nine boards. Six of his eight triples came in the first half.
Morgan was not the only Eagles player to make his mark offensively as three other players reached double figures.
Adam Traore matched a career-high with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench while
Chad Andrews-Fulton went for 14 points and eight rebounds.
Lucian Brownlee also tallied ten points off the bench and
Karonn Davis recorded nine points and seven assists.
Coppin led by as many as 14 points with 5:55 left in the first half at 29-15. The Eagles were clinging to a 15-13 lead with 11:05 remaining in the first but Coppin went on a 14-2 run, punctuated by a pair of three's by Morgan. Hampton was able to regroup and cut the deficit to just five points with 1:21 remaining, but Coppin closed the period on a 7-2 run thanks to another three by Morgan and a three-point play by Traore.
Trailing, 40-30 at the half, the Pirates quickly cut the deficit to four points with 16:51 but Morgan once again was there to stop the bleeding with nine points over the next five minutes, extending the Eagles' lead to 61-47 with 11:28 left to play.
Hampton still managed to find its way back into the game, cutting the deficit in half at the five minute mark and then back-to-back three's by
Malique Trent-Street (20 points) made it a 72-71 ballgame with 4:13 remaining.
Trent-Street then hit another three with just under three minutes to go, giving the Pirates their first lead since the 15 minutes mark of the first half at 74-72.
Kent Auslander then drove for a layp on the ensuing possession to tie the score but Trent-Street responded with a free throw and another three with 1:45 remaining to give Hampton a 78-74 lead.
On the following possession, Davis hit a fallback jumper and after a Hampton miss, Andrews-Fulton was fouled on an offensive rebound. Andrews-Fulton made the first free throw and missed the second but grabbed his own rebound and put it back in, giving the Eagles a 79-78 lead with 44 ticks left.
Jermaine Marrow, who came into the game averaging just over 20 points per game, answered right back to give Hampton back the 80-79 advantage and following a Coppin miss,
Kalin Fisher sunk two free throws with eight seconds to go.
The Eagles called a timeout and advanced the ball but a last second 3-point attempt by Brownlee was off the mark.
Coppin narrowly outshot Hampton, 46.2% to 44.1% and were outrebounded by a slim40-38 margin. The Eagles turned the ball over just 12 times but Hampton made the most out of them with 22 points off turnovers. Coppin also made just 9-of-17 (52.9%) from the line compared to 23-of-30 (76.7%) for the Pirates.
Up next for the Eagles is Bethune-Cookman on Saturday, February 17 for Homecoming. Tipoff from PEC Arena is scheduled for 4 pm.
