MEAC leading scorer Reggie Holmes leads Bears over Blackbirds in University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Dr. Pepper Classic.Recap: Long Island vs. Morgan State
Reggie Holmes scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Morgan State Bears to an 87-70 win over the Long Island Blackbirds in the consolation game of the Dr. Pepper Classic at McKenzie Arena. Kevin Thompson scored 13 points and collected 17 rebounds for the Bears (8-5), who were upended by Eastern Kentucky in the event last night. Troy Smith added 16 points and DeWayne Jackson tallied 15 points and seven boards off the bench for Morgan State.
Kyle Johnson had 21 points to pace the Blackbirds (4-8), who have now dropped five in a row. Jamal Olasewere added 13 points, David Hicks scored 12, and Michael Culpo finished with 10 points in the loss. LIU jumped out to a 27-19 lead on a layup by Culpo at the 10:09 mark of the opening half. However, the Bears responded with a quick 9-2 flurry, and they would eventually head to the locker room with a 42-38 halftime advantage. The Bears were simply too much in the second stanza, as they shot 54.8 percent from the floor and knocked down 6-of-9 three-pointers to pull away.
Men's Basketball Outlasted by Morgan State at Dr Pepper Classic
Chattanooga, Tenn. – The Long Island University men’s basketball team was unable to keep pace with an experienced Morgan State squad, falling 87-70 on Wednesday night in the consolation contest at the Dr Pepper Classic in McKenzie Arena. The Blackbirds held a lead for much of the first half and were close early in the second half before the Bears began to pull away.
Long Island (4-8) took a lead early in the contest after rolling off seven unanswered points. Freshman Jamal Olasewere sandwiched two pairs of foul shots around a three-point play by junior Kyle Johnson to give LIU a 12-6 lead at the 16:02 mark in the opening half. Kevin Thompson snapped the run, but the Johnson and sophomore Michael Culpo connected on three pointers in three straight LIU possessions to keep the Bears at bay. Freshman Kenny Onyechi and Culpo hit back-to-back layups to give the Blackbirds their largest lead of the day at 27-19 with 10:09 to play in the opening period.
Morgan State (8-5) promptly held LIU to just three field goals the rest of the half and outscored the Blackbirds, 23-11, to take a four-point lead into halftime. Troy Smith led the charge with seven points during the extended run, including a pair of foul shots with 0:03 left in the period to make it 42-38 at the intermission.
A three-pointer by Culpo got LIU within 50-44 early in the second half, but that was as close as it would be the rest of the way. Morgan State used a 16-4 spurt over the next 6:29 to build an 18-point cushion. DeWayne Jackson scored the final three points in a run of 11 unanswered points to make it 66-48 with 9:32 to play. The Blackbirds managed to cut the deficit to 79-66 with 2:34 to play on a driving layup by junior David Hicks, but Jackson answered with a three-pointer at the other end to push the game out of reach. Reggie Holmes capped the scoring on a jumper with 0:45 left sending LIU to its fifth straight defeat.
Box Score
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