NORFOLK, Va. – A defensive battle did not go Coppin State's way as the men's basketball team fell to North Carolina Central, 60-48 in the opening round of the MEAC Tournament on Tuesday night at Scope Arena. Coppin's season comes to an end at 5-27 overall.
Karonn Davis led Coppin with 13 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals in his final collegiate game.
Lamar Morgan added ten points while
Chad Andrews-Fulton,
Cedric Council and
Taqwain Drummond finished with six points apiece.
Both teams shot poorly overall but Central shot much better in the second half from the floor (48.0%) and made 14-of-21 from the line in the final period to seal the win. For the game, Central shot 33.3% compared to 28.3% for Coppin.
Coppin led, 18-17 at the half as
Lucian Brownlee buried a three from the corner just before the buzzer as the Navy & Gold outshot Central, 21.4% to 19.2%. Coming out of the intermission, there were five early lead changes but Central's
Reggie Gardner got hot and buried a trio of 3-pointers in nearly three minutes, putting Central on top, 32-27 with 11:40 to go.
After a layup by Drummond cut NC Central's lead to 35-33 with 9:30 left to play, Central hit back-to-back three's and Raasean Davis converted on a three-point play to cap off a 9-0 run, extending its lead to 44-33 with 7:02 remaining.
Central, who was led by Gardner's 20 points, 16 of which came in the second half, extended the lead to as many as 19 points in the period.
