DOVER, Del. – Coppin State's men's basketball team outshot Delaware State, but the Eagles fell in the closing seconds at Delaware State, 55-53, in the MEAC opener on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, Coppin falls to 1-14 overall while the Hornets improved to 8-9.
Preist Ryan led the Eagles with 11 points, followed by
Greg Spurlock with ten and
Ryan Archey with eight. All three players had five rebounds apiece to lead the team as well as both Spurlock and Archey had three assists each.
Isaiah Gross made his season debut and hit a pair of threes for six points and freshmen
Camaren Sparrow and
Aa'Reyon Munir-Jones chipped in with five points. Sparrow matched Spurlock with a pair of steals.
The Eagles outshot DSU, 45.8% to 38.8% but free throws were the difference as the hosts made 13-of-17 from the stripe compared to just 4-of-8 for Coppin.
Delaware State led nearly from start to finish, getting out to a 5-0 lead before increasing its advantage to as many as 27-17 with 2:57 left in the first half. Archey hit a pair of jumpers down the stretch to make it just a 27-21 deficit at the half.
Coppin tied the score at 27 early in the second on a transition layup by Munir-Jones, but DSU responded with a 11-2 run to go up nine at the 15:02 mark. The Eagles slowly crawled back into it and took their first and only lead of the game at 53-52 with 1:26 remaining following seven-straight points. Spurlock started the run with a three, followed by a pair of free throws by Sparrow and the go-ahead layup from Archey.
The Hornets retook the lead on a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession and hit another to go up, 55-53 with 20 seconds left in regulation. Following a pair of CSU timeouts on the inbounds pass, the Eagles fell just short on a miss just before the final buzzer.
CSU hosts Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday, January 8 at 7:30 pm on ESPN+.
