Sunday, December 3, 2017

Morgan State Men's Basketball Faces Navy on Sunday, 1 PM ET

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Game 8
Opponent: Naval Academy (6-3)
Date: Sunday, December 3, 2017
Site:  Alumni Hall, Annapolis, Md.
Game Time: 1 p.m. 
Series Record: Navy leads 2-0
Live Stats & Video Stream: navysports.com
Radio: Heritage Sports Radio Network - HSRN.org 
MSU Coaches: MSU - Todd Bozeman (177-181, 12th yr) • Navy - Ed DeChellis (74-122 7th yr)
Websites: www.MorganStateBears.com | www.navysports.com


SETTING THE STAGE
Morgan State (4-3) heads to Annapolis to take on the Naval Academy on Sunday afternoon at Navy Alumni Hall. It's the third of eight straight true road games for the Bears. Navy (6-3) held off Delaware 82-76 Friday night at Alumni Hall.  Bryce Dulin led the Midshipmen with a career-high 30 points and Shawn Anderson added 20 points. Martez Cameron led the way for the Bears by scoring a career-high 19 points and Phillip Carr had 17 points and 11 boards, but Morgan State fell to George Washington 73-66 on Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.

SCOUTING THE MIDSHIPMEN
• Navy, a member of the Patriot League, begins the seventh season under head coach Ed DeChellis ... Under DeChellis, Navy increased its conference win total for the fifth straight season and the 10 conference wins were the most for Navy since 2000.
• Navy finished the 2016-17 season with a 16-16 overall mark and a fourth-place finish in the Patriot League at 10-8 ... Navy fell to eventual tournament champion and No. 1 seed Bucknell in the semifinals of the conference tournament, 70-65.
•  Senior 6-4 guard Bryce Dulin (13.4 ppg) has led Navy in scoring through its first nine games. Senior 6-4 guard Shawn Anderson (13.1 ppg), along with 6-7 forward Tom Lacey (10.4 ppg, 6-0 rpg) are also averaging double figures in scoring.
• Senior guard Bryce Dulin scored a team-high 20 points in the win over Denver on Sunday and was Navy's lone representative on the Homewood Suites FGCU Shootout All-Tournament Team.
•  Junior guard Hasan Abdullah leads the Patriot League in total steals (20) and is averaging 8.4 points per game.
•  Navy is averaging 73.3 points per game, while holding its opponents to 69.6 points (ranked No. 1 in the Patriot League). 
•  The Midshipmen lead the Patriot League in free throw shooting percentage (.751).


THE SERIES
• Though the two schools are separated by a half hour drive, Sunday's contest will only be the third matchup between the schools with Navy leading the series 2-0. 
•  The Midshipmen used a 20-2 scoring barrage to help them cruise to a 73-47 victory in their first visit to Hill Field House before a crowd of 1,019 on Dec. 8, 2005. T.J. Mathis was the only Bear to finish in double-figures for the Bears by posting 11 points to go along with three rebounds and three steals.
•  The Bears fell 77-66 in the first meeting against Navy on Dec. 1, 2004 at Navy Alumni Hall. Four players scored in double-digits for the Midshipmen and despite finishing the game with 26 turnovers, and not scoring a field goal in the final 6:30 of the contest, Navy came away with the victory.

AT THE HELM
Todd Bozeman enters his 12th year at the helm as Morgan State men's head coach. The Bears have participated in six of the last 11 MEAC Tournament championships, captured back-to-back-MEAC Titles, and made appearances in the NIT and two NCAA Tournaments. Bozeman is also the school's all-time winningest coach with 177 victories...and counting!

BEWARE THE BEAR
Under the direction of Todd Bozeman, Morgan State has collected a couple of memorable wins against big-time opponents. The Bears have recorded historic wins against: Long Island (2009); Manhattan (2009); Arkansas (2009); DePaul (2008); and Maryland (2009).


HOME GROWN
Morgan State has three players from the DMV (D.C., Maryland & Metropolitan-D.C.) area. Returning sophomore forward Azariah Sykes is from Richmond, Va. and graduated from Milwood HS. Returning sophomore center Tyjhai Byers is from Bethesda and was a prep standout at Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, while Harlem native Tiwian Kendley is not from the DMV... he did play at Eleanor Roosevelt HS.

CARR NAMED MEAC PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR, KENDLEY SELECTED TO FIRST TEAM
The MEAC announced that Morgan State forward Phillip Carr is the 2017-18 MEAC Preseason Player of the Year.
• Carr, a Brooklyn, New York, native, led the Bears in rebounding, and was second on the team in scoring last season.
• He was selected to the All-MEAC's first team while being the third Bear to earn the Defensive Player of the Year honor (Boubacar Coly – 2008, Kevin Thompson - 2010).
• Carr becomes the first Bear to be named the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year since Kevin Thompson before his senior season in 2010. Reggie Holmes is the last Bear to win the regular-season award, when he received the award in 2009.
• Todd Bozeman's Bears received 13 of 26 first-place votes, outdistancing Norfolk State, and reigning champion North Carolina Central atop the standings.
• Carr led the five-man preseason All-MEAC First-Team and was joined by teammate Tiwian Kendley, who was the MEAC's leading scorer after averaging 21.0 points per game last season. The rest of that group was Norfolk State's Zaynah Robinson, Bethune-Cookman's Brandon Tabb and Howard's Charles Williams.



BOZEMAN'S BRAIN TRUST
Morgan State head basketball coach Todd Bozeman coaching staff returns for their third season. The0 Bears coaching staff consists of assistant coaches Brian EllerbeLarry Stewart, and Hans Desir.
• Ellerbe spent four years at Virginia, starting in 1990. He worked under Jeff Jones, now coach at Old Dominion. He was also the first African-American Head Coach at Loyola University, Maryland and The University of Michigan.
• Stewart was the Associate Head Coach for the Bowie State men's basketball team where he spent six seasons. He played with the NBA's Bullets, Vancouver Grizzlies and Seattle Super Sonics until 1997. His brother, Stephen, is an assistant coach at Coppin State.
• Desir, a Miami native, joins the Bears staff with over 10 years of coaching experience. he was previously lead assistant coach for J.T. Burton at Motlow College.

CHALLENGING NON-CONFERENCE SLATE
The year will open the 2017-18 season with a pair of road matchups, first  at Binghamton Nov. 10, followed by South Florida Nov. 13. The Bears' season-opener will be Nov. 16 versus Lincoln (Pa.), followed by a Nov. 18 date at West Virginia. The Bears will host Goldey Beacom Nov. 21 for its final home contest of the year. The Bears remaining seven non-conference  games will occur on the road. MSU will wrap the month of November at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27) and George Washington (Nov. 29). The Bears travel schedule will continue with matchups at Navy (Dec.3 ), Towson (Dec. 6), Manhattan (Dec. 9) and George Mason (Dec 22). MSU's west coast swing will begin with a trip to face Grand Canyon Dec. 27 in Las Vegas, followed by a game at CA-Northridge Dec. 30.

THE CHARITY STRIPE
The Bears completed the 2016-17 season ranked No. 2 in the conference in free throw percentage by shooting 71.1 percent (484-681) from the line. Phillip Carr ranked No. 3 (.829) in the league, while Tiwian Kendley shot .786 from the stripe (No. 7 in MEAC).
• The Bears have started the 2017-18 season by shooting 68.3 percent (97-142) from the stripe. Martez Cameron  is shooting 76.9 percent (20-26), followed by Phillp Carr at 76.7 percent (23-30) and LaPri McCray-Pace at 75.9 percent.

BEAR D 
The Bears defense was ranked among the conference leaders a season ago and should once again be solid defensively for 2017-18 season.
• MSU's defense has limited opponents to an average of 71.9 points (No. 2 in MEAC) thru the first seven games.
• The Bears rank No. 4 in the MEAC in field goal percentage defense at 39.8 percent.
• The Bears rank No. 7 in the MEAC in three-point field goal percentage defense at 36.3 percent.

FIELD GOAL SHOOTING
• Morgan State is shooting 40.7 percent from the floor.
• The Bears have shot under 50 percent from the floor in its first four of seven games.
• Morgan State has shot 50 percent or better in two of its last three contests ... they shot 50 percent against Goldey-Beacom (Nov. 21) and a season-high 52 percent at Mount St. Mary's (Nov. 27).
• Three starters are shooting better than 40 percent from the floor – Stanley Davis (.585), Tyjhai Byers (.444) and Martez Cameron (.406), and Tyler Streeter is shooting a team best 68.4 percent off the bench.

ROAD WARRIORS
The Bears close out the 2017 calendar with eight straight road games starting with Mount St. Mary's on Monday night and at George Washington on Wednesday (Nov. 29).
• Morgan State will open the month of December with a date at Navy on Dec. 3, followed by matchups at Towson Dec. 6, at Manhattan Dec. 9, and at George Mason Dec. 22.
• The Bears will wrap the non-conference schedule with a west coast swing to face Grand Canyon on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas, followed by a contest at California State, Northridge Dec. 30.

COMFORTABLE AT HILL FIELD HOUSE
Todd Bozeman has won at least 10 home games in three of his 11 seasons in Baltimore.
• The 2007-08 (12-1) and 2009-10 (11-1) squads finished with just a single loss, while the 2010-11 squad went 10-2.
• Bozeman has led the Bears to a 88-41 (.682) overall home record at  Hill Field House.

RETURNING PTS, REBS, ASTS
Morgan State returns 80.8 percent of its scoring from a season in which the team averaged 67.5 ppg during the 2016-17 season of 67.5 points ... MSU returns 74.9 boards a game from a year ago and that's about 74.3 percent of last year's team average of 39.0 a game ... When it comes to assists, MSU returns 263 assists from the total of 322 assists from last season or 81.7 percent returning.

BOARD CHAIR
Phillip Carr, the reigning MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, led the Bears in a 72-60 win over Lincoln-Pa. in which he grabbed a career record 19 rebounds, completely controlling the glass against the Lions.
•  Carr's 19 boards bested his previous record of 17, which he set Nov. 23, 2015 against Goldey-Beacom. 
•  Carr posted his 16th career double-double with 17 points and a game-high 11 boards at George Washington (Nov. 29).
•  Carr currently ranks No. 3 in the MEAC by averaging 9.1 rebounds per game in the first seven games of the season.

CARR REACHES 500 REBOUNDS
•  Senior forward Phillip Carr recorded his 500th rebound at Mount St. Mary's on Nov. 27 in his 61st career game.
•  Carr recorded a game-high 11 rebounds at George Washington and currently ranks among the school's leaders in rebounds ranked T-No. 13 (with William Lawson) with 518 boards. 
•  Carr is 44 rebounds away passing Ian Chiles for No. 12 on the school's all-time rebounds list.

HE'S BACK… DISHING OUT DIMES
MSU junior point guard Martez Cameron led the Bears in assists during the 2016-17 by averaging just over four per game (4.3) in 30 starts.
•  Cameron notched 9 points (5-6 FT) and dished out a game-high five assists in the season opener against the Binghamton.
•  He scored 11 points (4-4 FT) with five dimes and three steals in 35 minutes during the Bears win versus Lincoln-Pa.
•  He poured in a career-high 19 points (8-16 FG) and had four assists and two steals in 36 minutes at George Washington.
•  The Chicago product is currently averaging 11.3 points, 4.0 assists and is shooting 76.9 percent (20-26) from the charity stripe.

DID YOU KNOW? 
Neither of the team's two best players, MEAC Preseason Player of the Year Phillip Carr and preseason first-team All-MEAC selection Tiwian Kendley, started their career at Morgan State. Carr, a senior forward, played for a year apiece at junior colleges Mohawk Valley (N.Y.) and Williston State (N.D.). Kendley, a senior guard, spent two years at Lamar Community College (Colo.) after a standout high school career at Eleanor Roosevelt in Prince George's County.

ABOUT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is celebrating its 150th year of excellence in higher education. A Carnegie-classified doctoral research institution, Morgan offers more than 100 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's preeminent Public Urban Research University, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu


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