BALTIMORE- Coppin State men's basketball team wins its first game of the season on Wednesday night 71-49 over Loyola Maryland inside the PEC Arena.
Coppin (1-5) now leads Loyola (1-4) 4-3 in the all-time series.
Kyle Cardaci led all scorers with 19 points, while
Tyree Corbett had his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds and was 6-8 from the free-throw line.
Reggie James scored 10 points and
Jesse Zarzuela scored eight points and led the team in assists with six while shooting perfect from the free-throw line (2-2).
Nendah Tarke also scored eight points with five rebounds. Coppin's bench scored 35 points on the evening.
The Greyhounds stroke first with a three from Cam Spencer before
Alex Rojas evened the score. The Greyhounds went up three before Coppin went on a 7-0 scoring run to lead 13-6. Loyola trailing by two, the Eagles went up by six after back-to-back threes from James and Cardaci. At the 6:02 mark, Cardaci shot another three to give the Eagles a ten-point lead. Coppin went into the half leading 30-22. The Eagles shot 10-28 from the field and 6-16 from the three-point line.
Coppin kept the hot streak rolling into the second half leading by 11 after Tarke opened with a three. Loyola's Milos Ilic cut into the lead hitting a three of his own but Tarke countered back with another three to put the Eagles up 36-25 with 18:43 left to play.
Daniel Titus dropped in a lay-up to help Coppin go up by 13. A jumper by Zarzuela gave the Eagles a 17-point lead with five minutes left to play. The Eagles margin (19) kept increasing after a layup from Corbett with 4:04 left in the game. A final three from Cardaci gave the Eagles their largest lead (22) and sealed the deal for Coppin.
Quotable- Head Coach Juan Dixon
"It was a great defensive performance," said Dixon. "We need to keep relying on our guys to make shots and rely on making simple reads throughout the game.
Coppin State is back in action on Friday, November 19 taking on Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. inside the John Paul Jones Arena.
