Jan. 21, 2008

Box Score

Baltimore, Md. - Despite a valiant effort in the second half, Bethune-Cookman University was unable to come back from a large halftime deficit as they fell to homestanding Morgan State University, 59-50 in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference men's basketball affair at Hill Field House in Baltimore, Md. on Monday night.

Being stuck on six (6) points for until 3:47 left in the opening half will doom any team--whether it be grade school through the professional ranks. That's exactly what doomed the Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman (7-11, 2-3 MEAC) on Monday night as they were just unable to find the inside of the basket in the opening stanza.

Morgan State (9-8, 4-1 MEAC), on the other hand, was able to take advantage of the B-CU mishaps as they led 30-15 at the break. In the wake of an opening half disaster, B-CU head coach Clifford Reed, Jr. was still optimistic at the half.

"We are still in this thing guys," exclaimed Reed to his team in the locker room.

And that was certainly the case in the second half.

Senior guards Dewayne Pettus and Jimmy Hudson started to hit shots that just weren't falling in the first half, and junior transfer Dominique Whatley connected on two (2) three-pointers to help bring the Fighting Wildcats back to within five at 53-48 with 2:11 left in the game. MSU second-year head coach Todd Bozeman screamed emphatically at his team to play defense, and that B-CU was not going away ... even throughout a heated timeout period.

But MSU point guard Jerrell Green connected on some big foul shots down the stretch to help the Bears stave off a furious comeback attempt by the kids from Florida. The help of Smith with back-to-back put-back dunks excited the crowd and added to the Bears' 14 second-chance points.

B-CU was held to zero (0) second-chance points as the Bears out rebounded the Wildcats, 36-20. In fact, MSU had 16 offensive boards in the game.

The factor on the night was that five-time MEAC Defensive Player of the Week, Boubacar Coly, kept B-CU's John Holmes in check throughout the painted area. Several times it was Holmes called for a hooking foul trying to get around Coly, or he was whistled for traveling in attempts to use his athleticism around the bigger player from Senegal.

Holmes finished the night with nine points, ending his string of eight consecutive games in double-digits for scoring for the `Cats.

It ended up being the horrid first half for the Wildcats that hurt in the loss.

Jimmy Hudson led the Wildcats with 16 points, while teammate Pettus had 15.

As for Morgan State, they were led by Reggie Holmes with 16 points as he connected on three (3) three-point field goals. Behind him were Marquise Kately (15 pts., 6 rebs.) and MEAC Player of the Year candidate Jamar Smith with just 10 points, respectively.

Bethune-Cookman will now take some time off before playing their first conference home game since early December when they knocked off rival Florida A&M. They will take on the Hornets of Delaware State at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26 inside Moore Gymnasium.