Morgan State tops UMES 65-58 in 1st round of MEAC tourney

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) Phillip Carr had 16 points and ninth-seeded Morgan State had three other starters score 14 apiece in a 65-58 victory over No. 8 seed Maryland-Eastern Shore on Tuesday in the first round of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.

Morgan State (9-21) will play top-seeded Hampton (18-10) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Morgan State stole the ball under the UMES basket and Rasean Simpson made 1 of 2 free throws to extend the Bears' lead to 60-56 with 50.4 seconds left. He split a pair from the line again at the 32-second mark for a 61-58 lead. UMES missed a long 3-pointer and Donte Pretlow sank two at the stripe for a five-point lead.

Cedric Blossom, Simpson and Pretlow each scored 14 for the Bears.

Morgan State pulled to 33-29 at the break after Carr converted a 3-point play with 0.7 seconds left.

Dominique Elliott scored 20 points with nine rebounds for Maryland-Eastern Shore (10-22) and Bakari Copeland added 13 points and 10 boards.