BALTIMORE – Four Coppin State men's basketball players finished in double figures but it was not enough as it fell to North Carolina Central, 68-63, on Saturday night at PEC Arena.
Inside the Numbers
- Koby Thomas led four Coppin State players with 17 points on 8-of-16 shooting to go with six rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
- Andrew Robinson added 14 points with a pair of threes while Ibn Williams and Dejuan Clayton recorded ten points apiece.
- Brendan Medley-Bacon continued his great play on the defensive end with 15 rebounds and a career-high seven blocked shots which was the most by a CSU player since Michael Thomas blocked eight shots against Howard on February 4, 1995. The 7-foot-1 center from Baltimore also had seven points and four assists.
- Deven Palmer scored 21 points to lead N.C. Central while Jibri Blount added 19 points and nine rebounds.
- NCCU outshot CSU, 43.1% to 41.8% and made 10-of-22 from deep compared to 6-of-29 for Coppin.
How it Happened
- North Carolina Central got out to a 9-4 lead as Jibri Blount scored the first nine points for the visitors.
- Andrew Robinson hit a three for Coppin to pull CSU to within two and Coppin tied the score at 17-17 on a three by Ibn Williams with 11:37 remaining in the first half.
- After a steal, Dejuan Clayton buried a three to give CSU its first lead since the opening bucket and Koby Thomas hit a free throw to give Coppin its largest lead at 21-17.
- Deven Palmer hit a pair of threes to give NCCU back the lead and the visitors led 33-31 at the half.
- Seven-straight points by N.C. Central to open the half gave it a 40-31 lead but Robinson stopped the run with a three and CSU immediately called a timeout.
- The visitors would not relinquish their lead and increased the advantage to as many as 53-40 with 11:30 remaining.
- After a CSU miss, Brendan Medley-Bacon swatted away a shot which led to a three-point by play Reggie James at the Under-12 media.
- Following the timeout, James stole away a pass and threw down a thunderous slam on the breakaway to make it an 53-45 deficit.
- Coppin would pull to within 63-58 on a three by Clayton, and once again at 65-60 on a dunk from Thomas at the 2:33 mark.
- NCCU made a pair of free throws with just under a minute to go and after a free throw by Ibn Williams, Robinson hit an inside jumper to make it a 67-63 score with 25 seconds left.
- CSU was unable to get any closer as it missed on a pair of threes to end the game.
Up Next: Coppin is back in action on Monday, February 10 when it hosts Maryland Eastern Shore in a 7:30 pm MEAC tipoff.
