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Courtesy of Morgan State Athletics
Score: Morgan State 90 | South Carolina State 85
Location: Hill Field House, Baltimore, Md.
Records: Morgan State 8-8, 2-0 | SCSU 3-15, 0-2
The short story: Senior guard Malik Miller scored a game and career-high 32 points and Isaiah Burke matched his career-high with 30 points to lead Morgan State to a 90-85 victory over South Carolina State on Monday night. With the win, the Bears improve to a 8-8 overall record, 2-0 in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and remain unbeaten at home with a 6-0 mark.
OPENING TIP
- Miller connected on 10-of-15 from the floor and shot 12-of-14 from the free throw line. He recorded his seventh double-double of the season as he finished with 32 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, to go along with four assists, four blocked shots and three steals in 39 minutes.
- Senior guard Isaiah Burke scored 14 of his 30 points (11-22 FG) in the first half and connected on 6-of-12 3-pointers and added five assists.
- Starting freshman guard Kamron Hobbs added a season-high 18 points (4-6 3FG) with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
- Graduate student Collin Nnamene finished with a game-high six blocked shots and had five boards, and two assists off the bench.
- Rakeim Gary led the Bulldogs with 15 points (5-12 FG) and had three assists. Lesown Hallums had 14 points, Cameron Jones had 13 points and Latavian Lawrence finished with 10 points.
THE DIFFERENCE
- Kamron Hobbs hit a pair of 3-pointers to help the Bears jump out to a 12-5 lead. Isaiah Burke buried his second 3-pointer of the night to put Morgan up 21-12, but the Bulldogs responded with a 5-0 spurt and a triple by Rahsaan Edwards trimmed the lead to 21-17 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half.
- Miller hit a pair of free throws as part of a 9-2 run to help extend to the Bears lead to 11 (30-19) at the 7:42 mark. Morgan State finished off the half with a splash when Kamron Hobbs weaved his way through SCSU’s full court press and dropped off a dime to Rob Lawson for a layup and was fouled. Lawson converted the 3-point play to give the Bears a 51-39 lead at the break.
- Morgan controlled the opening moments of the second half and led 60-50 following a layup by Miller with 15 minutes remaining. The Bulldogs mounted another spurt after Rakeim Gary hit two free throws, and Jordan Simpson dropped in a 3-pointer followed by a breakaway dunk to cut the Bears lead to 60-57 with 13:55 remaining. Lesown Hallums completed a 3-points play that trimmed Morgan’s lead to 65-64 with 11:06 to go.
- Miller and Burke combined for 16 points during a 19-9 run over a five minute stretch … Miller split a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 84-72 with 5:54 remaining.
- Morgan shot .667 (18-27) from the free throw line, while the Bulldogs finished 19-for-29 (.655) from the stripe.
- The Bears were out-rebounded by the Bulldogs by a 42-34 margin.
- Morgan shot .517 (31-of-60) from the field, compared to SCSU’s .422 (27-of-64). The Bears shot .476 (10-21) from beyond the arc, while the Bulldogs connected on 8-of-16 (.500) from 3-point range.
- SCSU held a 16-9 advantage in second chance scoring.
- The Bears scored 23 points off of forcing 16 SCSU turnovers.
NOTABLE
- Monday night’s game improved Morgan’s home record to 6-0 this season.
- Morgan State is on a 4-game winning streak.
- Isaiah Burke collected his seventh game of scoring 20 or more points and it marked his second game of scoring 30 points this season.
- Morgan recorded its sixth consecutive win against South Carolina State since Jan. 6, 2020.
- The last time Morgan had two players score 30 or more points in the same game was Jan. 6, 2018 against Florida A&M — Tiwian Kendley scored 35 points and Phillip Carr scored 32.
- Miller currently sits at T-No. 2 among Morgan’s all-time leaders in steals … Miller is tied with DeWayne Jackson (2009-13; 127 games) with 173 career steals. Terrence Wright is the school’s all-time leader with 186 steals in 76 games (1992-96).
- Miller is the third player since 2010-11 with 32 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks in a game … The others were also this season: *Chattanooga’s Jake Stephens vs. Belmont (12/18) and * Idaho’s Isaac Jones vs. Sacramento State (1/5).