PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Tavon Blackmon scored 20 points, Joshua Howard added 20 and Brown rallied to an 81-75 victory against Morgan State at the Pizzitola Sports Center. It marked the Bears first meeting against the Ivy League squad.
In a game that featured seven lead changes and eight ties in the first half, it was the final minutes of the second half that hurt the Bears.
Howard converted a 3-point play to trim the Bears' lead to 44-42, before MSU capitalized on a couple of turnovers. Junior guard Tiwian Kendley buried a shot that jump-started a 10-0 run by the Bears. The run included a pair of dunks by junior forward Phillip Carr and his baseline jumper gave MSU its largest lead of the night at 54-42 with 11:44 remaining.
Brown responded with a 10-0 run of its own. JR Hobby it a 3-pointer that capped the run and trimmed MSU's lead to 54-52.
It was a back and forth affair down to the final minutes of the contest.
Martez Cameron hit his first points of the game from the free throw line to give the Bears a 71-67 lead with 3:50 remaining, but Brown responded.
Steven Speith scored on a reverse layup that trimmed the lead to 71-69. MSU turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds and led to Hobby hitting a 3-pointer to give Brown a 72-71 lead. A few moment later, Howard converted a 3-point play and Tavon Blackmon hit a pair of free throws to give Brown a 79-73 lead with 26 seconds remaining. The spread turned out to be too much for the Bears
Both teams turned in strong shooting performances tonight. Brown shot 50 percent from the field (27-53) and was 9-of-20 (45 percent) from 3-point territory, while Morgan State shot 46.8 percent ((29-62) from the field and was 15-of-16 from the free throw line.
Carr led the Bears with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, and pulled down eight rebounds with two blocked shots. Senior forward Kyle Thomas posted a season-high 16 points off the bench and junior guard Tiwian Kendley, the MEAC's leading scorer, added 15 (6-7 FT).
David Syfax had it rolling in the first half for MSU. The freshman forward converted 5-of-6 shots during the early going and Kyle Thomas added a quick 8 points off the bench.
Brown led 20-12 before Morgan State's offense really started to get going.
Kendley scored on a putback, Carr had a dunk and Alex Ennis scored on a layup during part of a 14-0 run that gave MSU a 26-20 edge with 6:58 left in the half.
The Brown Bears went scoreless for almost 6 minutes, before they regained their footing and mounted a 6-0 run of their own. Speith buried a 3-pointer for his first bucket of the night to tie the game at 26 (3:38).
Carr scored 6 of the Bears last 8 points to give MSU a 34-30 halftime lead.
Morgan State returns to the hardwood after Thanksgiving at Bowling Green on Saturday (Dec. 26)
