STOCKTON, Calif. – A furious rally by the Coppin State men's basketball team fell just short as the Eagles fell at Pacific, 64-60, on Tuesday night at the Spanos Center. Redshirt junior
Dejuan Clayton recorded a game-high 21 points with a career-high four 3-pointers and became the 23
rd player in school-history to record 1,000 career points.
The Basics:
Final Score: Coppin State 60, Pacific 64
Records: Coppin State (1-4), Pacific (5-2)
Location: Stockton, Calif. (Spanos Center)
How it Happened
- Coppin kept it close early as Kamar McKnight sunk a 3-pointer to cut a Pacific lead to just 5-3 with 17:54 remaining.
- The Tigers were able to extend their lead to 13-4 before Andrew Robinson hit a jumper at the 14:09 mark.
- CSU then went ice cold from the floor, going scoreless for the next 10:50 until Dejuan Clayton hit a three with 3:19 to play.
- Despite going scoreless for the long stretch, Coppin played solid defense which held Pacific to just ten points during that span. The Tigers led by as many as 23-6 before Clayton's 3-pointer.
- The Eagles closed out the half on a 9-2 run and trailed just 25-15 at the half.
- Coppin slowly clawed their way back into the game in the second half and used a 7-0 run midway through the period to cut the deficit to 38-33 with 10:27 left to play.
- Clayton then hit back-to-back threes after four Tigers free throws and then found Koby Thomas for an easy layup with 8:21 remaining to pull within 42-41.
- Four-straight Tigers free throws extended the lead back to five and the hosts eventually extended the lead back to 55-47 with 4:40 to go.
- The Eagles did not go away as they went on a 6-0 run with buckets by Thomas and McKnight as well as a dunk by Brendan Medley-Bacon to cut it to 55-53.
- Pacific scored another four-straight to hold on to the advantage, but Reggie James got the Eagles' bench on their feet with a baseline slam off a feed from Clayton with just over two minutes left.
- Trailing 62-59 after a layup by Clayton, Coppin forced a turnover out of a timeout but missed a pair of shots from point-blank range which could have cut the deficit to a single point. Instead Thomas made 1-of-2 free throws with 14 seconds left and Pacific responded with a dunk on the other end to seal the victory at 64-60.
Inside the Numbers
- Dejuan Clayton led all players with 21 points to match a season-high on 8-of-15 shooting while matching a career-high with four 3-pointers. Clayton also had four rebounds, four assists and a pair of steals.
- Clayton became the 23rd Eagles player to go over 1,000 career points when he hit a layup with 7:22 left in regulation. Coming into the game with 982 points, Clayton now has 1,003 career points.
- Koby Thomas and Andrew Robinson added ten points apiece while Kamar McKnight finished with nine and a team-high six rebounds. Brendan Medley-Bacon chipped in with five points and Reggie James provided a late spark off the bench with a season-high five points.
- After making just 5-of-22 shots in the first half, Coppin made 15-of-34 from the floor in the second half to shoot 35.7% for the game compared to 37.9% for Pacific. The Eagles made just 13-of-23 (56.5%) from the free throw line compared to 17-of-24 (70.8%) for the Tigers.
- Pacific outrebounded Coppin, 44-31 and the Tigers recorded 14 offensive rebounds which led to 26 second-chance points.
- The Tigers got 21 points and 13 rebounds from Jahlil Tripp.
Up Next: After a lengthy road trip, Coppin heads back home and will host Cornell on Saturday, November 23 at 7 pm.
