Feb. 7, 2009
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference-leading Morgan State University pulled away midway through the second half on Saturday evening at Joel Coliseum as the Bears busted open a tight game en route to handing the Rams of Winston-Salem State University a 73-64 loss in a nationally-televised contest that was shown live on ESPNU.
The Rams turned in a stellar first half of play as they held the MEAC leaders to 32 points during the game's first 20 minutes behind a stellar defensive effort that held the Bears to 46.4 percent shooting from the field as WSSU forced six Morgan State turnovers.
WSSU mounted a deadly shooting performance of their own in the half as Brian Fisher and Jamal Durham combined to hit seven of their 16 field goals including a pair of three pointers as the upperclassmen led the Rams' 41.7 percent shooting display with 13 and 11 points respectively.
The Bears held a slim advantage through nearly the entire first half of play until a Jamal Durham three-pointer with 35 seconds remaining in the period gave WSSU their first lead of the game at 33-32.
The one-point advantage would hold up as the Rams took the slimmest of leads to the locker room for the halftime intermission as WSSU led at the half for only the sixth time this season.
Leading by one point, the Rams increased their advantage to a game-high four points with a Jamal Durham layup off of an Isiah Tucker steal with 16:31 remaining to play in the contest as WSSU looked to be in control of the tempo of the contest.
The Bears, one of the MEAC's best shooting teams proved why they are atop the standings in the conference as the Bears would mount a 12-1 run over the next six minutes of play as Morgan State took control with a lead that they would never relinquish.
The Bears' Reggie Holmes, who was an uncharacteristic one-for-nine in the first half of play, proved to be the catalyst of the Morgan State run which saw MSU mount an offensive spurt in which six of their first nine second-half field goals were from three point range as WSSU saw the Bears pull away for good.
The Rams were led by Brian Fisher who recorded a season-high 25 points in the loss as he hit eight of his 17 field goals and hit eight of 10 free throws.
Fisher was joined in double-figures by Jamal Durham who tallied 16 points in the loss. With 16 points on the evening senior forward Jamal Durham now has 1,151 points for his career at WSSU as he has appeared in 106 games for the Rams and has turned in a career scoring average of 10.8 points per game. He now ranks 17th all-time in scoring at WSSU as he moves past Kevin "Cadillac" Vaughn (1,138 career points) on the all-time scoring charts.
The loss drops the Rams to 6-15 on the season as WSSU's win streak is halted at two games. The Bears improve to 13-10 on the season with the victory as MSU increases their win streak to three games.
Winston-Salem State University returns to action on Monday Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Joel Coliseum Annex when they play host to the Eagles of Coppin State University.
For additional information on WSSU men's basketball, contact the WSU Office of Athletic Media Relations at (336) 750-2143 or log on to the Official Website of WSSU Athletics at WSSURams.com.
