Central State led Morehouse College by 11 with 2:49 remaining in Tuesday night's opening round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, but failed to close out the game in a 52-49 loss to end the 2015-16 season.
The two teams proved to be evenly matched as the final game of the first round had 5 ties and 9 lead changes. With the score tied, 10-10, midway through the first half, MC mounted a 10-4 run capped off by a Robert Askew layup to take a 20-14 lead at the 5:54 mark. A Javarius Gay three-pointer gave Morehouse a 25-19 edge at halftime.
The Marauders quickly erased the Morehouse lead with a 8-0 run to start the second half. A jumper from Michael Hall allowed MC to momentarily retake the lead, 30-29, with 15:11 left. Jeremy Brown scored back-to-back baskets and Anthony Chester converted in the paint to give the Marauders a 36-30 lead with 13:43 to go. The CSU offense suddenly went cold, failing to score until a Tom Johnson free throw at the 7:57 mark. Brown then followed on CSU's next possession with a make from beyond the arc to reignite the Marauders as the team went on a 12-2 run. A Johnson layup capped off the run and gave CSU a 49-38 lead with 2:49 to go.
The Marauders did not manage to score a point in the final 2:49 and the defense allowed Morehouse to make its way back in the game. With 51 seconds left, Ayinde Russell took advantage of a pair of free throws to slice CSU's edge to 49-47. Morehouse used the charity stripe again in its favor after Michael Scott was fouled while attempting to shoot a 3-pointer. Scott connected on all three which gave Morehouse a 50-49 lead with nine seconds in the game. In CSU's final possession, a basket by Sterling Gilmore was waived off as the guard was whistled for an offensive foul with one second to play sending Morehouse back to the free throw line where they hit both shots with 0.6 left on the clock. A full court heave from Brown was off the mark as Morehouse escaped the potential upset.
"Despite the outcome, I am really proud of our players for coming out with passion and energy in the second half. We had a lot of effort from several players and we just did not stay disciplined down the stretch," said CSU Head Coach Joseph Price. "Morehouse kept fighting and is really well coached. They made more plays than we did to pull out the victory."
Brown paced CSU with 12 points and 7 rebounds. Gilmore finished with 10 points while battling foul trouble throughout the evening. Senior Tre' Edwards also finished with 10 points as his collegiate career came to an abrupt end.
Russell led all scorers with 19 points. Scott finished with 12 points and Michael Hall grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
"We just have to learn how to close out these type of games. It has been our weakness all year so we are looking forward to getting back and working towards next season," said Gilmore, a junior guard from Cincinnati, Ohio. "It was a tough call at the end of the game but we will work even harder going forward so that the refs are not put in a position to decide the game on a close call."
Central State concludes the 2015-16 season with an 11-15 record. Morehouse improved to 15-9 and will face Lane College in the SIAC Tournament quarterfinals.
For more information on the SIAC Tournament, go to -
http://thesiac.com/news/2016/1/14/WBBALL_0... For more information on Marauder Athletics, please visit –
www.maraudersports.com
Posted By: Reginald Culpepper
Wednesday, March 2nd 2016 at 5:17PM
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