BALTIMORE, MD – South Carolina State had its five-game win streak snapped Saturday at Coppin State, falling 79-61 to the Eagles at the Coppin Center.
The Bulldogs shot only 37 percent from the field, including a chilly 30 percent in the second half, in dipping to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
“We are usually a pretty good shooting team,” said disappointed Bulldog head coach Tim Carter. “I've said all along, when we don't shoot the ball well from the perimeter, we struggle because we don't have that 6-8 or 6-9 inside presence.
“We shot only 37 percent,” he continued, “And that's not getting it done. We never got into any kind of offensive groove and that's pretty much the story.”
Coppin, meanwhile, connected on 58 percent of its shots in the first half in building a 42-32 advantage at the break and finished the game with 51 percent accuracy.
“Coppin was composed in its attack all night,” said Carter of the Eagles, who won their second straight after 11 consecutive losses. “They executed well against our matchup (defense) and kept us off balance. The bottom line, they did what they were suppose to do, we didn't.”
Darnell Porter had 17 points – including an 11-11 effort at the line – and 13 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs. Brandon Smalls came off the bench for 12 points and seven boards and SC State leading scorer Jason Flagler and reserve Arsenio Williams added 10 points each.
Coppin State, which won only its second league game, improved to 7-16 and 2-9 in the MEAC. The Eagles were led by Kareem Brown with 14 points. Vince Goldberry added 13 points and Quinston Reggins 11 in the win, which avenged an earlier 87-65 loss to the Bulldogs Jan. 18 in Orangeburg.
Carter's team never led in the contest as Coppin scored the game's first six points and built a 19-10 edge with 12:07 left in the first half on a 3-pointer by Lenny Young.
SC State battled back to close the gap to three twice in the period, the last time at 31-28 on a layup by Arsenio Williams off a feed from Tyvon Williams with 4:45 on the first-half clock, however, the host closed the period with an 11-4 run to build a 10-point 42-32 edge at the break.
Coppin tallied the first four points of the second half and went on a 19-15 run to go ahead 61-47 on an inside basket by reserve Ceslovas Kucinskas with 10 minutes to play. The closest SC State got after that was nine points – 61-52 – on two Porter free throws with 9:17 left. Coppin built its biggest lead of the game, 79-58, on two free throws by Brown with 90 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs will have little time to lick their wounds as they face MEAC leader Morgan State Monday in an ESPNU nationally televised contest, beginning at 7 p.m. In an earlier meeting in Orangeburg Jan. 16, the Bears, undefeated in the MEAC, erased a 13-point second-half deficit to win 72-67.
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