MEAC Tournament: Morgan State Bears Get Revenge In 81-68 Tournament Upset

NORFOLK, Virginia  – The Florida A&M Rattlers ended their season with an 81-68 loss to the Bears of Morgan State, in the quarterfinal round of the MEAC Basketball Championships at the Scope Arena.  MSU got revenge for the Rattlers spoiling their "Senior Night," a week ago in Baltimore, MD.

The Rattlers battled throughout the game, but was unable to make significant ground on the charging Bears who were led by guard Justin Black, who scored a game-high 29 points on the night.  Second team All-MEAC guard Jamie Adams scored 26 points on 7-of-17 shooting to power the Rattlers offense.  Jomari Bradshaw added 12 points, as only a duo of Rattlers managed to card double figures.

Lanky center Ian Chiles scored 15 for MSU, while Cedric Blossom added 12 points.  FAMU used a combination of Bobby King, Pierre Crawford and Christopher Rozier to try and contain the 7’2” center, who had his way in the paint against the Rattlers.  MSU outrebounded FAMU 42-35.

MSU led by as many as 19 points in the first half, but the Rattlers used a solid inside game to claw back into the contest.  At the half, the Rattlers were down just two points at 31-29.  There were only two lead changes and two ties, as the Rattlers trailed most of the game.

FAMU was outscored 40-28 in the paint, but outscored MSU 28-10 in bench scoring.  The Rattlers’ undoing would come in the 50-point second half that the Bears put up.  The Rattlers never had an answer for the strong inside-outside game of MSU.

In the first half, the Rattlers shot 40 percent from the field, but just 37.9 in the second half.  For MSU, the Bears shot 36.1 percent from the field in the first half, while they would explode on a 15-26 pace in the second half, which was a 57.7 percent clip.

The Rattlers improved on last year’s first round exit, but was short of expectations of this senior bunch.  With about :30 seconds remaining in the game, head coach Clemon Johnson took out his seniors to applause from the Rattler faithful that had attended the tournament.

The Rattlers ended the season with a 14-18 record, 8-9 in conference play.  Last season, the Rattlers won just eight games total.

COURTESY FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION