Sunday, January 7, 2018

Morehouse Tigers Slay Dragons to Reach 13th Win in Row

ATLANTA, Georgia -- The Maroon Tigers jumped out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back, as they racked up their thirteenth win in a row, beating the Lane College Dragons, 85-53.

It was the fourth win by 20-plus points, for the Tigers who are one win away from tying the 14-game win streak achieved in the 2012-13 season. That mark remains the longest win streak in school history.

Shooting 49 percent and out-rebounding the Dragons, 50-32, the Maroon Tigers cruised to their tenth straight home win, dating back to last season.

Martravious Little was the big scorer, for the Tigers, hitting 7 of 13 shots, from the field, and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line, for 21 points. Little, picking up the slack for co-captain Tyrius Walker, matched his season high, in points.

Walker, who picked up two early fouls, sat most of the first half. He played 18 total minutes and finished with nine points and five rebounds.

With the big win, every Maroon Tiger, except Kairo Whitfield, played and scored at least two points.

Omar Alston, the best percentage shooter in the SIAC, was again perfect from the floor. Alston hit 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 from the charity stripe, for 10 points. His game-high 12 rebounds gave him a fifth double-double on the season and he chipped in four assists and two steals.

Duby Maduegbunam matched Alston, with 10 points, and hauled in six rebounds.

James Walker came within a point of his first double-double, putting up nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Jordan Wallace chipped in eight points, hitting his only attempt – a three-pointer – and going 5 of 5 from the line.

The Maroon Tigers shot 90 percent from the free-throw line, hitting 18 of 20. It was their second best effort of the season, behind the 24 of 24 shots made in the season opener against Florida Tech.

Subbing for Tyrius Walker, Michael Olmert had his longest stint of the season, playing a team-high 27 minutes. The sophomore point guard posted three points and three rebounds, but had a game-high seven assists and two steals.

Junior transfer Tony Evans had one of his best games of the season. Evans played a season-high 16 minutes and contributed seven points and three rebounds.

Newcomer Keith Heard added four and two rebounds and Rodolzo Lewis, playing in only his second game as a Maroon Tiger chipped in two points, two assists and a rebound.

While the Tigers failed to reach the 86.6 points per game scoring average that has them atop the SIAC, it was enough to get past the Dragons, who also failed to reach their season average of 64 points per game.

Two Dragons posted double figures, led by Terrace Holt, with 15 points, and AiShontis Sanders, with 14 points. All-SIAC player Kendarius Ash was hampered by an injury and played only 15 minutes. He posted four points and four rebounds.

Despite the loss, the Dragons, now at 4-9; 3-6, remain the #1 team in the SIAC West Division.

BOX SCORE

With the win, the Maroon Tigers move to 8-0 in the conference, and have now defeated all the teams in the SIAC West. Morehouse sits at #2 in the East, behind Claflin, at 15-1; 8-0.

The Maroon Tigers are nationally ranked at #25 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll and are #5 in the South Region of the D2SIDA poll.

Morehouse will be off until Saturday, at 3 p.m., when they face the Fort Valley State Wildcats, in Fort Valley, GA.

The next home game is Saturday, January 20, when the East Division-leading Claflin University Panthers, visit Forbes Arena.

All Morehouse home games are free and open to the public and are web-streamed at http://www.themmtechno.com/mh.htm.

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE MAROON TIGERS SPORTS INFORMATION

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