It wasn’t one of his best teams, but a win against Rick Pitino is still a big deal for Morgan State.
Morgan State hopped on top of Iona early, held off a rally attempt, and emerged with an 83-72 win over Iona on Tuesday night.
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Troy Baxter had a game-high 25 points and Lagio Grantsaan scored 22 points for the Bears.
It marked Morgan State’s first win against the Gaels in six tries. Iona leads the all-time series 5-1.
Malik Miller chipped in 11 points with six rebounds and De’Torrion Ware came off the bench to score nine points.
Defensively, the Bears held Iona to 46.6 percent (27-58) shooting from the field and 6-of-25 shooting from beyond the arc. Morgan also scored 28 points off of 18 turnovers by the Gaels.
Baxter led Morgan State (2-1) shooting 7 for 17 from the field, 5 for 8 from 3-point territory and he hauled down seven rebounds. Grantsaan scored 17 of his 22 points (8-9 FG) in the first half, including five 3-pointers.
Grantsaan opened the game by hitting a 3-pointer and an Iona turnover led to a fastbreak layup by Trevor Moore to give the Bears an early 7-0 lead with 17:03 left in the first half.
The Gaels took its first lead of the game at 38-35 when a turnover in the backcourt led to a 3-pointer by Tahlik Chavez. The lead was brief as Baxter answered with a 3-pointer of his own and the teams went into the intermission tied at 38-38.
Morgan State is now 2-1 after beating Lincoln last week and Iona on Tuesday.
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