2011 MORGAN STATE BASKETBALL
Game 10
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 – 7 p.m. (ET)
Morgan State (2-7, 0-0 MEAC) vs. Saint Joseph’s (9-3, 0-0 A-10)
Philadelphia, Pa. – Hagan Arena
BEAR FACTS
Head Coach: Todd Bozeman
Alma Mater/Year: Rhode Island/1986
Record at MSU/Year: 104-72/6th
Career Record: 139-134
Basketball SID: Leonard L. Haynes IV
GAME TIME
• Morgan State will conclude 2011 with a holiday road swing to Philadelphia when they take on a Saint Joseph Hawks’ team that has won its last four games. The contest will tip-off at Hagan Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. (ET). This represents the second regular season meeting between the Bears and SJU.
BEAR BITS
• Four Bears scored in double figures and Morgan State hit 47.4 percent from the field to pull away from Loyola Marymount, 69-45 at Hill Field House. Junior swingman DeWayne Jackson led MSU with a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds, while Larry Bastfield finished with 13 points, and Kevin Thompson and Ameer Ali posted 12 and 10 points respectively.
• The Bears lost to then-No. 14/15 Xavier, Southern California, Cal Poly and Ohio — all on the road by nine points or fewer.
• The Bears will play its next four games on the road, with its furthest road game coming on January 3rd against the Univ. of San Francisco Dons.
• Kevin Thompson has scored in double-digits in seven of nine games, and has posted four double-doubles (pts & rebs) so far this season.
• Senior point guard Larry Bastfield is the only Bear to have started in every game (31) last season…currently he has started in 40 straight games.
• Kevin Thompson’s 11 rebound performance at Southern Cal gave him 1,005 rebounds for his career, making him the No. 3 leading rebounder in school history and only the third Morgan State player to post 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in school history.
• The Bears will look to rebound from last year’s fourth place MEAC finish and reclaim the conference title for the fourth time in five years.
• The Bears completed the 2010-11 season with a 17-14 mark and posted a 10-6 conference record.
• Morgan State was selected to win the MEAC Regular Season Title, edging out last year’s MEAC Tournament Champion Hampton. The Bears received eight (8) first place votes and a totaled 616 points to take hold of the conference’s top spot going into the season.
• Redshirt sophomore Ian Chiles (7-foot-2) is the first 7-footer since MSU legend Marvin Webster to grace the campus of Morgan State University … Chiles, a Cliffside Park, N.J. product, is currently averaging 10.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2 blocks so far this season.
A BEARS WIN WOULD…
• Give the Bears a 1-1 series record against Saint Joseph’s.
• Give Todd Bozeman his 105th win as MSU’s head coach.
• Give the Bears its second road victory of the season.
• Improve Todd Bozeman’s overall record to 140 career wins.
• Would mark the Bears first three-game winning streak since defeating VMI (Feb. 19, 2011), UMES (Feb. 21, 2011) and Delaware State (Feb. 23, 2011).
CHASING 1,000
•
Junior forward DeWayne Jackson has 919 points, and needs 81 more to become the 21st member of the 1,000-point club at Morgan State.NOTE ON THE HAWKS
• Saint Joseph’s is in the midst capping a string of five consecutive home games on campus when they face MSU on Wednesday night. The only other time this occurred in school history was February 1990.
• Head coach Phil Martelli recorded the 309th win of his career and is now tied with Bill Ferguson (1928-53) as the Hawks’ all-time leader in victories. Martelli’s career record is now 309-212 in 17 seasons.
• The Hawks will enter Wednesday’s contest against MSU riding a four-game winning streak and have won six of their last seven games.
• C.J. Aiken is the nation’s leader in blocked shots with his 4.7 average, while the Hawks rank third (8.1) as a team in the NCAA Statistics of Dec. 25.
• Langston Galloway was the Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week and the Big 5 Player of the Week for Dec. 19.
HAWKS LAST GAME OUT
PHILADELPHIA - C.J. Aiken scored a career-high 20 points to help Saint Joseph’s win its fourth straight, as the Hawks defeated Coppin State, 81-72, at Hagan Arena. Aiken, who shot 7-for-10 from the field, led a balanced attack that saw Langston Galloway score 18 points and Carl Jones chip in with 16.
PREPARED FOR THE CHALLENGE
• The Bears have put together a challenging non-conference schedule, and currently have one of the toughest schedule in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
• They are one of four MEAC schools to have a strength of schedule in the top-100.
• MSU’s strength of schedule ranks No. 53, North Carolina Central ranks No. 51, Coppin State ranks 32 and Norfolk State ranks 14.
LOOKING AHEAD
MSU will travel west to face the San Francisco Dons on Monday, January 3.
