BALTIMORE – Kyle Cardaci punched in a career-high 21 points and
Anthony Tarke had another superb all-around game with 16 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and four steals but Morgan State rallied to defeated Coppin State, 79-76 on Saturday afternoon at PEC Arena. The Eagles fall to 6-10 overall and 5-2 in the MEAC while the Bears move to 9-4 with a 4-2 mark in league play.
Cardaci made 4-of-8 field goals with three 3-pointers but came up huge at the charity stripe, making a career-high 10-of-11 free throws. Free throw shooting came up pivotal for the Eagles as the rest of the squad made just 14-of-26 (53.8%) from the stripe.
Tarke notched his fifth double-double in the last six games as he made 5-of-12 from the field but just 5-of-11 from the line. Tarke also dished out four assists which matched
DeJuan Clayton (10 points) for the team lead.
Koby Thomas and
Yuat Alok were also in double figures with 12 and ten points, respectively.
The Bears narrowly outshot Coppin, 41.2% to 37.9% in the first half but the Eagles got to the line often, making 10-of-16 from the stripe, whereas Morgan did not shoot a single free throw.
Coppin led 36-33 at the break and extended its lead to 46-38 as Tarke buried a three with 16:11 left to play. Morgan hit a free throw, and both teams turned it over before
Nendah Tarke grabbed a rebound after a miss by the Bears'
Malik Miller. Unhappy with the no-call, MSU head coach Kevin Broadus received a pair of technical fouls and was ejected.
Cardaci sunk all four technical free throws to give CSU a 50-39 advantage with 14:47 left.
CSU led by as many as 55-41 after a three by Cardaci but the Bears quickly cut into the deficit with a 15-4 run over the next 4-plus minutes.
Morgan was able to cut it to a single point with 6:04 remaining but the Eagles, behind three free throws by Cardaci, were able to regain some breathing room at 71-64 with 4:15 to play.
MSU then went on an 8-1 run as
Troy Baxter hit a baseline jumper to tie the score at 72-72 with 2:1 remaining.
Anthony Tarke answered with a nifty drive and lay-in, but Baxter drained a three from the wing at 1:15 to give the visitors their first lead since the 6:22 mark of the first half.
CSU missed an opportunity at the other end and Morgan got a layup by De'Torrion Ware ware with 25 seconds remaining to make a 77-74 ballgame.
The Eagles missed on the other end but forced a turnover which led to a layup by Cardaci with 14 second to go. Baxter hit a pair of free throws with ten seconds left after a CSU timeout and a last second effort by the Eagles came up short.
Both teams shot just 39 percent from the floor but Morgan outrebounded the Eagles, 55-38 and got 20 second-chance points behind 17 offensive rebounds. The Bears made 13-of-16 free throws in the second half compared to 14-of-21 for CSU.
The same two team will meet once again at PEC Arena on Tuesday, February 2 at 8:00 pm.
