BALTIMORE – Kent Auslander scored a career-high 18 points and made all four of his 3-pointers to lead
Coppin State to a 95-91 MEAC victory over
Bethune-Cookman Monday night at PEC Arena. The 95 points was the most points scored by the Eagles during the tenure of head coach
Juan Dixon and the most by the school since the 2016 MEAC Tournament.
The Basics
- Final Score: Coppin State 95, Bethune-Cookman 91
- Records: Coppin State 4-19 (4-4 MEAC) / Bethune-Cookman 8-13, (3-4 MEAC)
- Location: Baltimore, Md. (PEC Arena)
- Series History: Coppin State Leads, 51-15
How It Happened
First HalfÂ
- Both teams battled for position throughout the first half as the lead exchanged hands six times.
- Coppin held the largest lead of the period at 34-26 with 3:53 remaining after Lamar Morgan hit a free throw to cap off an 18-5 run where Dejuan Clayton scored half of the Eagles' points.
- Bethune-Cookman answered the drought with a 9-0 run to retake a 35-34 lead with 1:40 left but after the teams traded single free throws, Justin Steers converted on an and-one just before the halftime buzzer, putting CSU on top, 38-36.
 Second HalfÂ
- Right out of the break, Cedric Council buried a three from the corner and slammed home a dunk off a pass by Chad Andrews-Fulton to give CSU a 43-36 lead with 18:55 left.
- Bethune-Cookman slowly cut the deficit and used a 10-0 run to take their largest lead at 53-47 with 14:19 to play.
- Kent Auslander responded on with a three and Justin Steers converted on a three-point play the old-fashioned way to tie the score at 53 at the 12:46 mark.
- The duo of Auslander and Steers kept CSU moving with the team's next ten points before Andrews-Fulton gave CSU the lead with 8:42 remaining with a couple free throws.
- Bethune regained the lead at 67-65 less than a mainute later but CSU used an extended 18-7 run over the next 5:28 to take its largest lead at 83-74 with 2:15 to play.
- Steers was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after his dunk at the 2:15 mark and after a pair of technical free throws and a three, CSU's lead was quickly down to 83-80 with 2:01 to play.
- Following a Wildcat timeout after the tree, Auslander hit one of his own right out of the break which was answered by a three by Bethune-Cookman's Malik Maitland with 1:26 left.
- Andrews-Fulton then was fed for a layup by Dejuan Clayton at the 1:11 mark and after a Wildcats miss, Auslander put CSU up 89-83 with 48 seconds remaining, his first of five free throws in the final minute.
Inside the NumbersÂ
- All four of Kent Auslander's field goals came from behind-the-arc as he went 4-of-6 from the field. The senior from Herndon, Va., also made 6-of-9 free throws including 5-of-6 in the final minute.
- Justin Steers also had a career-night with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while making all five of his free throws. He also pulled down seven rebounds.
- Dejuan Clayton and Lamar Morgan also had 15 points apiece. Clayton made 7-of-12 shots to go with five rebounds and seven assists while Morgan buried three shots from downtown.
- Chad Andrews-Fulton also filled up the stat sheet with eight points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.
- Before fouling out, Cedric Council added seven points, Brendan Medley-Bacon chipped in with five points, including a couple dunks, and freshman Giir Ring poured in a season-high six points as the Eagles frontcourt overcame major foul trouble in the first half.
- Malik Maitland led Bethune-Cookman with 20 points while Shawntrez Davis scored 19. Dondre Duffus added 17 and Cletrell Pope tallied 14 points and 16 rebounds.
- The Wildcats narrowly outshot Coppin, 47.5% to 46.9% and both teams recorded 40 rebounds. CSU made one more field goal than BCU and made 25-of-36 (69.4%) free throws compared to 22-of-38 (57.9%) for the Wildcats.
- Both teams shot very well in the second half as Coppin shot a whopping 59.3% compared to 51.4% for BCU.
Who's Next?
- The Eagles wrap up a three-game MEAC homestand with archrival Morgan State on Saturday, February 2 at 4 pm.
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