Reggie Holmes helps lead Bears with 34 points against the Razorbacks on Tuesday night.
Boxscore
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Morgan State's basketball program had never beaten an SEC opponent, until tonight.
Reggie Holmes scored a career-high 34 points, including a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds remaining to lead Morgan State to a 97-94 upset victory against Arkansas on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena before 7,468 fans.
Prior to tonight, the first and only time the teams had squared-off against each other was on December 13, 1986, when Nolan Richardson's Razorbacks ended up dropping the Bears 106-57 in Fayetteville.
Rotnei Clarke missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the Razorbacks after hitting a pair of 3-pointers to keep the game within reach with 14.1 seconds and 6.5 seconds remaining.
Clarke finished with a team-high 26 points. Mike Washington added 21 points and Marshawn Powell and Julysses Nobles scored 17 points each for the Razorbacks (2-2).
Arkansas shot 57.1 percent (16-28 FG) in the first half, but halftime adjustments helped the Bears limit the Razorbacks to just 11 field goals in the second half, five of which were made during the closing 4 minutes of the contest.
Morgan State (4-1) hit 34-of-41 (82.9 percent) free throws. Holmes sunk 13-of-15 from the line, including the final four from the stripe to help the Bears notch their 6th non-conference victory in 8 tries.
“I'm proud of my guys it was a hard fought victory,” said 4th year MSU coach Todd Bozeman. “ I thought in the first half we fouled a lot (16 fouls), and we just came off of a game where a team shot 41 free throws on us. It looked as though we were going in that direction, but they shot 45 and we ended up shooting 41.”
Bozeman got strong performances by a number of his players.
“We had a big lift from Joe Davis off the bench,” Bozeman added. “He transferred and sat out from Cleveland State and we have been waiting for him to have a breakthrough game. He has been kind of shaking the rust off and he stepped up for us tonight.” Davis scored a season-high 18 points (8-8 FT), including two free throws that gave the Bears an 87-84 lead with 1:16 left to go.
Arkansas outscored the Bears 38-30 inside the paint, however the Bears held a commanding 39-26 advantage on the boards and scored 20 points off of second chance opportunities.
Sophomore Kevin Thompson, a 6-foot-8 Baltimore product, led the Bears in pounding the glass for a game-high 14 rebounds to go along with 10 points. Freshman swingman DeWayne Jackson chipped in 8 of his 10 points in the second half.
Holmes, who entered the game off of a 9-point performance against #22Lousiville, exploded for 18 points in the first half to keep the Bears close. MSU trailed 53-46 at the halftime.
“I couldn't wait to play a game after the loss on Sunday to Louisville,” said Holmes. “ I only played 16 minutes, and I was upset that I fouled out and we lost that game. I knew that I can do better.”
The Razorback loss snapped a 45-game winning streak at Bud Walton Arena against nonconference opponents. That was the second-longest streak in the nation.
“When you win right before Thanksgiving,” explained Bozeman, “ the turkey tastes a little bit better.”
“We're going to go back with the guys being extremely happy, and I'm proud of them because they really worked hard for it.”
The Bears will play at Appalachian State on Saturday in the final game of the Hall of Fame Classic. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
