BALTIMORE – Kamar McKnight scored a game-high 24 points but it was not enough as Coppin State's men's basketball team fell in its season opener to visiting Rider University, 91-84, on Tuesday night at PEC Arena.
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The Basics
Final Score: Coppin State 84, Rider 91
Records: Coppin State (0-1), Rider (1-0)
Location: Baltimore, Md. (PEC Arena)
Series History: Rider Leads, 3-0
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First Half
- After trading a pair of baskets apiece, Coppin went on 14-2 run over a 3:02 stretch to turn a 4-4 tie into a 18-6 lead. Aaron Robinson hit a pair of threes' during the run while his twin brother, Andrew Robinson hit another, as did Dejuan Clayton.
- Rider silenced the crowd with a layup which Clayton responded to with one of his own and Aaron Robinson hit another three to give the Eagles a 23-8 lead, their largest of the game, with 12:23 to go in the half.
- A 5-0 run by Rider quickly cut the deficit to seven points and they pulled within 30-26 at the 6:01 mark.
- Brendan Medley-Bacon then slammed home a pass from Clayton, and Andrew Robinson hit another triple to extend the lead back to nine at 35-26.
- The teams played virtually even the remainder of the period as Coppin went into the break with a 44-37 lead.
- Coppin played fast on both sides of the ball, making 41% of its shots and holding the Broncs to 33.3 shooting and forced 11 turnovers which turned into nine points off turnovers.
- Clayton led CSU with 11 points, four assists and three steals in the half while Aaron Robinson added nine off the bench with three 3-pointers. Kamar McKnight also scored eight points in the first 20 minutes. Koby Thomas also filled up the stat sheet with four points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Second Half
- Coppin's advantage stayed between five and eight points for the first few minutes but after a jumper by Koby Thomas gave the Eagles a 51-44 with 16:20 to go, Rider went on a 13-4 run over the next 4:19 to take its first lead since the opening minutes of the game at 57-55.
- Aaron Robinson hit a three on the ensuing possession to give Coppin back the lead, but the Broncs hit a three of their own to start a 9-2 run and go up 66-60 with 9:47 left to play.
- CSU pulled to within 66-65 after another three by Aaron Robinson and a nifty layup by Dejuan Clayton with 9:01 remaining but a 10-2 Broncs run extended the lead to nine and eventually their largest advantage of 80-69 at the 4:32 mark.
- A layup by Kamar McKnight with 37 ticks left got Coppin as close as seven points.
- Rider shot a whopping 19-of-29 (65.5%) from the field in the second half compared to just 12-of-35 (34.3%) for Coppin who made just 3-of-19 from deep after making 7-of-20 from three in the first period.
Inside the Numbers
- Kamar McKnight scored 24 points to lead all scorers, making 7-of-20 from the field and 9-of-10 from the line to go with four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- Dejuan Clayton added 17 points on 5-of-13 shooting and made all six of his free throws. He also grabbed six rebounds and was credited with four assists and a team-high four steals.
- Aaron Robinson was also in double figures with 15 points and five 3-pointers.
- Andrew Robinson added nine points and seven rebounds while fellow newcomer Koby Thomas finished with seven points and led CSU with ten rebounds and five assists.
- Brendan Medley-Bacon made all four of his shots for eight points to go with five rebounds.
- Three Broncs, Frederick Scott (21), Dimencio Vaughn (21) and Tyrei Marshall (20) finished with over 20 points while Stevie Jordan added 17 points. Scott and Vaughn notched double-doubles with 13 and ten rebounds, respectively.
- For the game, Rider outshot CSU, 48.4% to 37.8% and outrebounded Coppin, 51-38.
Up Next: Coppin returns to action on Friday, November 8 when it travels to play Virginia Tech in a 7 pm start on the ACC Network.
