BALTIMORE – Mike Hood scored a team-high 17 points and
Sita Conteh tallied a season-high 14 points in his first start of the season, but the Coppin State men's basketball team fell to North Carolina Central, 77-74 on Monday night at PEC Arena in a nationally televised matchup. CSU falls to 5-19 on the year and 4-5 in the MEAC while NCCU improves to 13-11 with a 6-2 mark in league play.
Hood shot 5-of-12 from the floor with three 3-pointers while hitting 4-of-6 free throws while Conteh made four 3-pointers on the night with a pair of free throws for his best effort of the season.
Nendah Tarke also had 14 points, making all ten of his free throws, and added five rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Justin Steers finished with eight points,
Reggie James added five and four other CSU players chipped in four points each.
NCCU outshot Coppin, 50.0% to 44.0% as CSU made 21-of-25 free throws and nine 3-pointers.
Coppin started out firing on all cylinders, getting out to a 14-4 lead with Conteh tallying eight early points. CSU took its largest lead of the game at 19-8 on a three from James, but Central regrouped with a 20-6 run to go on top, 29-25 after a three from Randy Miller. Buckets by
Tyree Corbett and Tarke tied the score at 29-29 but Central closed the period on an 8-2 run to take a 37-31 halftime lead.
Central extended its lead to as many as 46-35 just minutes into the second half but Coppin fought back with a 9-0 run and pulled to within 46-44 after a breakaway slam from
Remy Lemovou. Lemovou's monster slam caused a crack in the rim, delaying the game for over 30 minutes with 14:40 left to play.
Coppin regained the lead after the stoppage but Central closed the game on a 7-2 run over the final 2:57 to win it. The Eagles called a timeout with 5.2 seconds left but the inbounds play went for a turnover in the far corner, allowing NCCU to escape the Charm City with a win.
