Brandon Walker for Urban Media Today
Washington, DC—With five seconds remaining, Eugene Alvin caught an entry pass beneath the basket and scored, delivering a 78-77 upset victory for Morgan State over Howard at Burr Gymnasium on the campus of Howard University.
Both teams went back and forth in the early going, where Bryce Harris scored the first six points for Howard (12-9 overall, 2-3 MEAC), but found themselves trailing by one at the first media timeout. Alfred Worrell Jr. hit a three-pointer for Morgan State (7-13 overall, 3-2 MEAC) after the timeout, and Rob Lawson followed up with another three. Morgan State, however, started taking fouls and committing unforced errors as Howard tied the game at 16 during the Under-12 media timeout.
The back and forth raged on into the middle of the first half with a thunderous put-back dunk by Harris and another put-back bucket by Alex Cotton as HU held a four-point lead after the Under 8 timeout at 27-23. The pace remained steady and even as Howard tried to use its size advantage, and Harris continued to carry the load offensively, Howard led 42-36 at halftime.
Morgan shot 50 percent from three (6-12) in the first half; Howard outrebounded them 27-19.
Howard started to lock down on defense to begin the second half; the game slowed into a grind, with neither team able to get a field goal, and the score was 48-41 after the first media timeout of the half. Cam Gillus finally scored a basket from the floor, followed by Marland Harris. Howard was taking the physicality to the Bears, as they were already in the bonus by the second media timeout of the half. Morgan was hanging around, staying in the game, and cutting the lead to one.
Cedric Taylor III made a basket to put Howard by six at the nine-minute mark in a second half that dissolved into a free-throw shooting contest. Taylor also made an alley-oop dunk that made the crowd cheer wildly before the under-8 media timeout to put the Bison up eight. Morgan continued to battle because Howard kept missing free throws and Morgan kept making theirs. Alex Cotton and Cam Gillus made back-to-back shots to make the score 72-65 in favor of Howard. However, Lawson made another three-pointer to cut the deficit to two with two minutes remaining and another basket to tie the game.
Bryce Harris hit two three-pointers, followed by a basket by Elijah Davis. Harris made one of two free throws, and David Bumpass, who was in the game because two Morgan players fouled out, put back a missed shot to put the Bears up by one with 30 seconds remaining. Lawson fouled Gillis, and he made both free throws to put the Bison up by one.
After an exchange, Morgan State had a chance to win with eight seconds left. Alvin scored an easy layup on an out-of-bounds pass. Howard failed to get a shot off at the buzzer. Morgan secured the upset victory.
Lawson led Morgan with 24 points. Worrell had 23 and Davis 16. Taylor led Howard with 29 points, and Harris had 23 and 11 rebounds. Cotton scored all 14 of Howard’s bench points.
Howard hosts Norfolk State on Jan. 31. Morgan visits Coppin State the same day.
You can follow Brandon on all social media accounts: @bwalkerdadon
