Coppin State Men’s Hoops Falls in Overtime to North Carolina A&T in MEAC Quarterfinals

NORFOLK, Va. – Coppin State's men's basketball team's season came to a heartbreaking end with an 82-79 loss in the MEAC Quarterfinals to second-seeded North Carolina A&T Wednesday night at Scope Arena.
 
The Basics:
Final Score: Coppin State 79, North Carolina A&T 82
Records: Coppin State (8-25), North Carolina A&T (19-12)
Location: Norfolk, Va. (Scope Arena)
Series History: Coppin State Leads, 40-23
 
Inside the Numbers

• Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by Lamar Morgan with 17 points who made five 3-pointers.  Dejuan Clayton and Kent Auslander added 16 points apiece while Justin Steers put up 13 points to go with a team and season-high nine rebounds and three blocks while making 4-of-4 from the floor and 5-of-6 free throws.
• Cedric Council and Chad Andrews-Fulton finished with nine and eight points, respectively, combining for 12 rebounds.
• Clayton also dished out a career-high nine assists and made 10-of-14 from the line.
• Coppin ended up outshooting North Carolina A&T, 40.0% to 37.3% and made 26-of-34 free throws for the game compared to 14-of-19 for the Aggies.
• Both teams had 43 rebounds but CSU turned the ball over 18 times which led to 24 Aggies points. A&T also took 20 more shot attempts from the floor.
• Both teams also shot 25 3-pointers with A&T making 12 of them compared to nine for the Eagles.
• North Carolina A&T's Ronald Jackson had a game-high 21 points and 14 rebounds (10 offensive) to lead all players.  Kameron Langley added ten points, 12 assists, five rebounds and four steals.

 
How it Happened
First Half

• North Carolina A&T jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Dejuan Clayton made his first nifty drive and layup, putting Coppin on the board at the 18:14 mark.
• Following an Aggies jumper, Clayton drove once again and hit a pair of free throws before a three by Lamar Morgan with 16:01 to go put the Eagles on top, 7-6.
• The Aggies answered with a triple of their own before Cedric Council scored five-straight, including a three from the corner to give CSU a 12-9 lead.
• A couple lead changes later, Morgan hit back-to-back 3-pointers at 9:33 and 8:44, but A&T caught fire from deep, hitting five triples in the final 5:38 to take a 38-30 halftime lead.
• Morgan led the Eagles with nine points in the first half while Council and Justin Steers recorded seven points apiece.  Steers made five free throws (matched a season-high) in the period as he was fouled going hard to the rim for dunks.
• Coppin also turned the ball over ten times which led to 13 Aggies points and A&T buried seven 3-pointers on 13 attempts.
• The first 20 minutes saw four ties and ten lead changes.

Second Half

• Lamar Morgan buried a three to open the half but six-straight Aggies points, including a pair of easy dunks, gave A&T a 44-33 lead at the 17:02 mark.
• Over the next 4:08, A&T's Ronald Jackson scored eight points from all levels of the court to keep the Aggies lead at 11 points with just over 12 minutes to go.
• The next few minutes became a 3-point shootout with Morgan hitting a three and Kent Auslander converting on a four-point play to help Coppin cut the deficit to 61-56 at the 7:42 mark on a pair of free throws by Dejuan Clayton.
• Clayton hit another two freebies to get the deficit to just three points but a 7-2 Aggies run got the lead back up to eight with 4:55 left to play.
• The Eagles did not go away and scored seven-straight to cut the lead to 68-67 with 2:31 remaining on a pair of free throws by Morgan and a layup by Clayton.
• Kameron Langley then hit a layup and Jackson sunk a free throw for the Aggies before Justin Steers used his athleticism to tip in a missed shot with just 1:16 left.
• Coppin forced a turnover on A&T's next possession and missed on an opportunity to take the lead, but Steers hit a jumper inside with 27 seconds to go, tying the score at 71.
• North Carolina A&T called a timeout with 4.8 seconds left and missed a couple opportunities inside to force overtime.

Overtime

• North Carolina A&T scored the first five points of the extra session, taking a 76-71 lead with 2:18 to go but Kent Auslander buried a triple and following an Aggies miss, hit a pair of free throws to tie the score  at 76 with 1:32 to go.
• Following another A&T miss on the ensuing possession, a foul was called on the Eagles on a loose ball and the Aggies made both free throws at the 1:04 mark.
• Dejuan Clayton kept CSU alive hitting two more freebies with 37 ticks remaining to tie the score at 78 but a three-point by Ronald Jackson gave the Aggies an 81-78 lead with 17 seconds remaining.
• North Carolina A&T fouled Chad Andrews-Fulton off the ball after a timeout.  Andrews-Fulton made 1-of-2 but the Eagles got the rebound and called timeout.
• A turnover and a foul allowed the Aggies to take a 82-79 lead with eight seconds to go and Coppin's attempt to tie was off the mark.

News & Notes

• Morgan finishes his Coppin career with 170 3-pointers in just two seasons to rank 8^th in school-history, but his 2.6 three's per game in his career are tops in CSU history.  Morgan's 82 triples this season are the 8^th-most in a single-season by a Coppin player.
• Clayton will enter his redshirt junior season next year with 908 points and is approaching the Coppin top ten list in both assists and free throws.
• In just two seasons at CSU, Council finished with 67 blocked shots, tying him with Terquin Mott for 9^th in school-history.