PHOENIX, AZ (HamptonPirates.com) – The Hampton Pirates men's basketball team came up short in the second game of the Boost Mobile HBCU Challenge hosted by Chris Paul on Monday night falling to Morgan St. by a score of 60-47.
Najee Garvin led the Pirates in scoring with 17 points and Russell Dean added 14 points in the loss.
Morgan St. would get a six-point burst starting at the 16:12 mark in the first half to make take a seven-point lead at 10-3. Hampton would then get a three pointer from Pinky Wiley and two free throws from Dean to cut the lead to two at 10-8 with 11:50 remaining in the half. Collin Nnamene then hit a jumper for the Bears to up the lead to four on the next possession followed by a Garvin free throw to cut it to three. Morgan St. then got a pair of jumpers from Seventh Woods making the score 16-9. The Pirates then got four straight free throws from Dean and Dajour Dickens to get within three. The Bears responded with four points of their own pushing the lead back to seven. Garvin and Dean then went on their own 7-0 run to tie the score at 20 with 3:14 left in the half. The two teams would go back and forth for the final three minute of the half with the score being 27-23 in favor of the Bears.
Early in the second half, Morgan St. would get six straight points to take its biggest lead so far at nine points. Dean would strike again with a layup and a free throw to cut it to six at 14:06. The Bears would start to open the game up by scoring the next seven points to make it 42-29 Morgan State. Hampton would get the next four points but the Bears wouldn't relinquish control of the momentum again maintaining an eleven to thirteen point lead the rest of the way.
Hampton will play again in a double-header with the ladies when they host the Norfolk State Spartans on Saturday in the second Battle of the Bay matchup at the Hampton Convocation Center. Tip off for the Lady Pirates is 3:30 pm and the men will follow at 5:30 pm.
