Courtesy of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Confernce and Sneakershoptalk.com:
North Carolina Central 71, South Carolina State 64
Coppin State 77, Morgan State 65
Maryland Eastern Shore 64, Delaware State 58
Howard 87, Norfolk State 67
North Carolina Central 71, South Carolina State 64
ORANGEBURG, S.C. – North Carolina Central University closed out the regular season with a 71-64 road victory over South Carolina State University on Thursday night, providing NCCU with its seventh straight win and a No. 2 seed in next week’s Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Senior center Brendan Medley-Bacon topped NCCU (17-11, 10-4 MEAC) with game-highs of 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. The 7-footer’s 56 rejections this season ranks third in the Eagles’ records book.
NCCU also received double-figure scoring contributions from Marque Maultsby with 15 points and Justin Wright with 13 points. Eric Boone chipped in nine points and five steals.
Coppin State 77, Morgan State 65
BALTIMORE, Md. – It was a historic milestone night for Sam Sessoms and Nendah Tarke as the Coppin State men’s basketball team closed the regular season with an impressive 77-65 victory at Morgan State on Thursday night at Hill Field House. Winning three of their last four games, the Eagles enter the MEAC Tournament as the sixth seed with a 9-22 overall record while going 4-10 in league play.
Sessoms finished with seven points, eight rebounds, eight assists and a steal. With his lone steal, Sessoms became just the 13th player in the last 30 years to record 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists and 200 steals in their career.
Tarke scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting along with five rebounds and three assists. With his first field goal of the game, after making a free throw earlier, Tarke became the 24th player in school history to record 1,000 career points.
Maryland Eastern Shore 64, Delaware State 58
DOVER, Del. — An overwhelming defensive effort helped the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men’s basketball team earn a 64-58 victory over Delaware State in the 116th installment of the Route 13 Rivalry on Thursday, March 2 at Memorial Hall.
The Hawks wrap the regular season at 17-12 (9-5 MEAC), boasting just the fourth Division I winning record for the program in the last 50 years. The last came eight years ago in the 2014-15 season. Before that was the 1993-94 season which saw the Hawks finish 16-12, and the first was the famed 27-2 squad from 50 years ago, the 1973-74 NIT team.
The win also locked UMES into the fourth seed of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) tournament, slotting the Hawks in for a date with No. 5 Morgan State on Thursday, March 6.
Howard 87, Norfolk State 67
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Howard University men’s basketball team secured the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) regular-season title and the top seed in next week’s MEAC Tournament with an 87-67 rout of Norfolk State on Thursday night at Burr Gymnasium.
Top-seeded Howard will take on No. 8 South Carolina State at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8.
The Bison (19-12, 11-3 MEAC) controlled the game from the beginning, outscoring the Spartans (20-10, 9-5) 52-25 in the first half fueled by 8-of-13 shooting from 3-point range.
NSU turned up the pressure in the final period outpacing Howard 42-35, but could not overcome the large first-half deficit.
Kris Bankston and Dana Tate, Jr. both tallied 18 points for NSU.
Bryce Harris led the Bison with game-highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Marcus Dockery and Jordan Wood each scored 12 points.
