NORFOLK, Va., March 11, 2021 — De’Torrion Ware dropped 35 points to lead Morgan State past Florida A&M 77-75 in the men’s quarterfinal round of the 2021 Air Force Reserve MEAC Basketball Tournament Thursday evening in the Scope Arena.
The Bears (13-7) will face Northern Division top seed and rival Coppin State in Friday’s semifinal round at 6 p.m.
Ware went 10-for-17 from the floor and hit seven of his 11 3-pointers. He was the only Bear to score in double figures, and he added six rebounds and a steal. Lagio Grantsaan was Morgan State’s leading rebounder with nine.
“He gave us some separation (in the second half),” Morgan State head coach Kevin Broadus said. “It was real tight in the first half, and we made some mistakes … we were looking for threes, and I know we’re better than that.
“We needed (Ware) to score tonight, and he did.”
The Rattlers, the No. 2 seed out of the Southern Division, jumped out to an early 9-point lead — going up 21-12 at the 9:42 mark after a jumper from Johnny Brown. In fact, FAMU (8-12) grew the lead to as much as 12 in the opening frame, going up 37-25 with 1:31 left in the half after a Bryce Moragne jumper.
FAMU led 39-30 at the break.
After the Rattlers opened up a 42-32 lead on a Jalen Speer jumper with 19:22 left in the contest, Morgan State — the No. 3 seed out of the Northern Division — scored 33 of the next 42 points to go up 63-51 after Malik Miller hit two free throws with 7:46 remaining.
Sherwyn Devonish hit a jumper with 3:55 remaining that put Morgan State up 71-61.
But the Rattlers had one more run in them; using a 14-5 run, FAMU cut the lead to 76-75 with nine seconds remaining after Speer hit a pair of free throws. Devonish responded with a free throw of his own three seconds later, and DJ Jones’ potential game-winning three went wanting as the buzzer sounded. Speer led four Rattlers in double figures with 18 points. MJ Randolph added 17.