BALTIMORE – Anthony Tarke stuffed the stat-sheet and finished two assists shy of a triple double as the Coppin State men's basketball team held on to defeat MEAC rival Delaware State, 81-77 on Tuesday night at PEC Arena. The Eagles took both games from the Hornets on back-to-back nights to start conference play.
A redshirt senior from Gaithersburg, Md., Tarke recorded 13 points with a season-high 11 rebounds along with eight assists, six steals and five blocks. Tarke's eight assists match a career-high and his steals and block numbers were both career-highs.
Coppin continued to get great point production from multiple players as
Koby Thomas and
DeJuan Clayton led all scorers with 18 points apiece. Thomas also grabbed ten rebounds for a double-double while Clayton added six assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Kyle Cardaci made three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points and
Kenan Sarvan made four triples for 12 points.
CSU started the game out on a 10-2 run, highlighted by a dunk from
Anthony Tarke to open the game and a pair of three-pointers by Sarvan. The lead was short lived, however, as the Hornets went on a 15-3 spurt to take a 17-13 lead at the 10:36 mark.
The teams played virtually even the remainder of the period with four leads and a tie occurring in the final 10-plus minutes of the period as Coppin led at the half, 32-31.
Delaware State regained the lead to start the second half and held a 51-49 lead with 12:23 remaining on a three by Pinky Wiley which prompted a DSU timeout.
Clayton gave CSU back the lead with a three and sparked a run with a rebound and outlet pass to Thomas who slammed one home. Back-to-back layups by Tarke and Clayton, followed by a layup by
Nendah Tarke (7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists) and another dunk by Thomas gave the hosts their largest lead of the game at 62-51 with 8:55 remaining.
The Hornets did not go away as they slowly climbed back into the game, taking advantage of several missed free throws by the Eagles. With just under a minute to play, Wiley hit a pair of free throws to tie the score at 74-74.
On the ensuing possession, Clayton used a screen and found Sarvan who buried a three from NBA range to give Coppin a three-point lead with 28 seconds to go.
At the other end of the floor, Tarke manned up Wiley and recorded a steal before throwing a pass to his brother, Nendah, who was fouled with 19 seconds left. After making 1-of-2 free throws, Coppin forced a DSU miss and Clayton hit a pair from the stripe to seal the win.
Coppin outshot Delaware State, 45.9% to 37.3 for the game but the Hornets kept it close with 13 3-pointers. Coppin had arguably its best rebounding game of the season despite falling in the category, 48-44. The Eagles also made just 17-of-30 free throws.
Coppin returns to the floor on January 16-17 for back-to-back games at archrival Morgan State. Both games are slated for 2 pm.
