Winston-Salem, N.C., March 13 - Reggie Holmes scored a team-high 25 points and Jermaine Bolden and Rogers Barnes each added 17 to lead Morgan State to a 75-67 win over Coppin State in the semifinal round of the MEAC men’s basketball tournament at the LJVM Coliseum.
The Bears (21-11), the top seed and regular season champs, will take on the winner of the Norfolk State-South Carolina State semifinal on Saturday at 7 pm for the tournament championship. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Morgan State began to assert itself early, maintaining an eight point lead before taking a 36-22 lead to the locker room. Holmes, a junior guard and first team All-MEAC selection, singlehandedly carried the Bears with 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
“Reggie is a scorer; everyone in this league knows that,” declared Todd Bozeman, Morgan State head coach and MEAC Coach of the Year for the second straight year. “He carried us in the first half and he was a good decoy in the second half when they went box and one.”
Added Coppin State head coach Ron “Fang” Mitchell, “I felt we would do a better job of containing him. He played well in both of our games against us this season, so we made a concerted effort to stop him. It wasn’t enough. We had a hard time finding him.”
But the Eagles (13-19), the Number 5 seed and defending tournament champions proved that champions die hard. Coppin State came out and scrapped and fought its way back into the game.
With senior guard and MEAC Player of Year Tywain McKee scoring on almost every key possession, Coppin State was able to reduce the deficit to a workable margin at 67-61 with 2:41 still remaining. During one stretch, the mercurial McKee scored 14 straight points on a variety of three-point plays.
“Last season, he (McKee) willed his team to four wins and the tournament title,” recalls Coach Bozeman, who personally saw McKee hit the game-winning shot against his Morgan State in the tournament championship. “We looked forward to the challenge of that.” He continued, “The thing about college basketball is that you want to compete against the best and he is the best.”
With the game hanging in the balance and McKee threatening to pull off another of his superhuman efforts, the diminutive Bolden made the key plays that proved to be decisive as the Bears regained control. The 5-8 senior guard scored nine straight points, including a three pointer that made it a three possession game.
“We had taken him out to calm him down and get his composure,” said Bozeman of Bolden, who had a season-high seven turnovers. “When he returned, he did the things that we needed for him to do to make us successful. He scored when we needed him and he got the ball to the right people. He is the straw that stirs the drink.”
McKee closed out his brilliant career with 30 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals while playing all 40 minutes.
“We had our opportunities, but we didn’t capitalize,” said McKee, who is the school’s all-time leading scorer. “That’s all there is to it.”