PHILADELPHIA – Coppin State's men's basketball team played virtually even with Saint Joseph's in the second half but was unable to overcome a 17-point halftime deficit in an 87-65 loss to the Hawks on Tuesday night at Hagan Arena. The Eagles fell to 2-11 on the season while Saint Joseph's improved to 6-3.
Three CSU players scored in double figures, led by freshman
Nelson Lamizana with 13 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.
Tyler Koenig and
Favour Aire added 11 and ten points, respectively, followed by
Hussain Williams and
Jamari Piercy with seven points apiece.
Saint Joseph's outshot Coppin, 49.1% to 43.9% while burying 14 3-pointers and 21-of-24 free throws. Four Hawks scored in double figures with Jaiden Glover-Toscano going for 25 points on seven 3-pointers.
The Eagles got on board first on a transition layup by
Baasil Saunders, and following a pair of SJU free throws, Lamizana hit a three to give Coppin a 5-2 lead. After a Hawks field goal, Lamizana scored once again on a fast break to put the Eagles back up by three.
A dunk by Dasear Haskins got the crowd into the game nearly a minute later and that momentum led to a 14-1 Hawks run which put the hosts up 18-8 midway through the half. Piercy scored five-straight points and
Taj Thweatt added a jumper to cut the deficit to three before the hosts went on another long run and took a 43-26 lead into halftime.
Coppin returns to action on Sunday, December 14 when it travels to Radford for a 2:30 pm tipoff on ESPN+.
