Clayton Lifts Men’s Hoops to Victory Over Savannah State in MEAC Opener

BALTIMORE, Md. – Dejuan Clayton scored a season-high 23 points while making 10-of-13 from the free throw line to lead the Coppin State men's basketball team to a 73-67 MEAC victory over Savannah State on Saturday afternoon. 

The Basics

• Final Score: Coppin State 73, Savannah State 67
• Records: Coppin State 1-15 (1-0 MEAC) / Savannah State 3-12 (0-1 MEAC)
• Location: Baltimore, Md. (PEC Arena)

How It Happened
First Half 

• Savannah jumped out to an 11-4 lead as it drained a pair of three's to open the game and Tyrell Harper made a pair of close jumpers to sandwich a free throw by Jaquan Dotson.
• Dejuan Clayton then led CSU on a 17-0 run over the next 7:16, scoring nine of the Eagles points.  Savannah missed 14 straight shots before finally scoring on a jumper with 7:59 remaining.
• Nigel Marshall answered the Savannah score with one of his own and then threw down a thunderous slam on a breakaway, giving CSU a 25-13 lead with 5:58 left, matching its largest lead of the day.
• The Tigers cut the lead in half before a three by Lucian Brownlee at the 2:51 mark but Savannah scored the final three points of the period as CSU went into the half with a 28-22 lead.

 Second Half 

• Coppin's lead dwindled down to a single basket with 17:54 left but Justin Steers answered with a three and Lamar Morgan scored Coppin's next ten points, giving Coppin a 42-37 advantage at the end of the run at 14:37.
• Steers then converted on a tough-three point play to increase the lead to eight and a pair of three's by Morgan and Taqwain Drummond got the lead back to 12 at 53-41 with 8:39 left.
• Savannah scored the next seven points to pull within 53-48 and actually tied the score at 64 with 1:35 left on a tip-in by Romani Hansen.
• The Eagles then used a big mismatch inside as they fed Baltimore native and 7-footer Brendan Medley-Bacon and the freshman converted on a jump hook off the window, putting CSU back on top 66-64 at the 1:14 mark.
• Following a Savannah miss with just under a minute left, Clayton grabbed the rebound and was fouled where he made 1-of-2 free throws with 43 ticks to go.
• Savannah sunk a free throw at the other end before Clayton and Savannah's Harper traded a pair of FT's each as CSU was clinging to a 69-67 advantage with 12 seconds left.
• Clayton then hit two more with nine seconds left and after a missed three by Savannah, Drummond pulled down the rebound, giving him his career-high ninth of the day, and sunk a pair of FT's with four ticks left to seal the Coppin victory.

Inside the Numbers 

• Fourteen of Dejuan Clayton's 23 points came in the second half and he made 5-of-6 from the line in the final minute of the game.  His 23 points were the most by him since he scored 23 in the MEAC Tournament against Howard on March 7, 2017.
• Clayton also pulled down seven rebounds to go with four assists.
• Lamar Morgan scored all 15 of his points in the second half and he scored all ten of Coppin's points from the 17:13 to 14:37 mark.
• Aside from CSU's 1-2 punch, the Eagles got a well-balanced effort the rest of the way with Justin Steers going for nine points, Taqwain Drummond with seven points and a career-high nine rebounds.  Chad Andrews-Fulton and Nigel Marshall chipped in with six points apiece.
• Coppin made 50% of its shots in the second half and outshot Savannah, 41.8% to 30.1% which was a season-low by a Coppin opponent.  The Eagles' 73 points was a season-high and their 48 rebounds matched its last game total for another season-high. 
• CSU was 20-of-26 from the free throw line compared to 15-of-25 for Savannah State.
• Savannah attempted a whopping 48 3-pointers but made just eight of them for a 16.7 percentage.
• The Tigers got a double-double 18 points and 11 rebounds by Tyrell Harper.

Who's Next?

• Coppin State will look to go 2-0 in conference play when it travels to Delaware State for a 7:30 pm tipoff on Monday, January 7.