Fighting Scots Lose Respectable Hoops Battle Against

D-1 Morgan State
Morgan State's Holmes scores 21 to lead Bears

STORRS, CT —For the second time in two days, the Ohio Valley University men’s basketball team gave a respectable effort against an NCAA Division-I program.

In Thursday night’s consolation round of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on the campus of the University of Connecticut, Reggie Holmes scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Bears from Morgan State past OVU 77-66. Holmes, who hit six 3-pointers during Wednesday’s 69-65 first-round loss to UConn, was 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Teammates Marquise Kately and Jerrel Green added 15 and 12 points, respectively.

For OVU (0-2), Chris Leborious scored in double figures for the second game in a row after pouring in a team-high 19 points. Omar Campbell pitched in 12 points for the Fighting Scots.

“It was a tough loss,” OVU coach Bill McGee said. “Our guys are competitors and they are upset about losing, but at the same time in the locker rooom they were talking about keeping their heads up. We competed against a Division-I program and did a decent job against them.”

The Fighting Scots led 8-6 before Morgan State established a comfort zone with a 17-4 run. Kately scored 11 points in the first half as the Bears extended the lead to 44-32 by intermission.

“The game kind of got away from us,” McGee said. “That was the first time we faced a zone, and (during one juncture) we turned the ball over three straight times.”

OVU responded with an 11-2 run over the first four minutes of the second half to pull within 46-43. Morgan State maintained the three-point advantage at 52-49 with 12:16 remaining in regulation then outscored the Fighting Scots 6-1. The Fighting Scots would get no closer than four points the rest of the way.

Unlike Wednesday night in their loss to Buffalo, the Fighting Scots did a much better job at the free-throw line — hitting 19-of-23 (83 percent) from the charity stripe.

Morgan State had 38 points off 21 OVU turnovers.

The Fighting Scots open their home portion of their schedule Thursday against Salem International. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m.