Devonish comes to the rescue

Junior hits 3 with only 2 seconds left to lift Bears

MORGAN STATE 50, COPPIN STATE 48

The final possession for the Morgan State men’s basketball team began frantically at the top of key, with players struggling to find any room against Coppin State’s tight defense.

The ball went to the left-side wing to senior forward David Syfax, who began to lose his dribble in the midst of a double team. Syfax was able to dribble out of the double team and jumped, throwing an off-target pass to junior guard Sherwyn Devonish, who was waiting on the wing by Morgan State’s bench.

Devonish corralled the ball with his right hand before raising up with a smooth left-handed stroke, sinking a 3-pointer to give Morgan State a two-point lead with two seconds remaining.

Redshirt junior guard Dejuan Clayton drained a last-second heave about three-quarters of the length of the court, but officials waived it off as late, confirming the call after a short review.

As the refs looked at the shot, players from Morgan State ran off the court, reveling in a 14-point comeback and 50-48 victory in the 90th meeting between the crosstown rivals.

“I’m just taking what’s given to me. I’m just trusting my coaches,” said Devonish, who scored 11 points and made all three of his 3-point attempts. “We just had to slow the game down. … We just had to pick them apart, get stops, score and that’s pretty much all it was.”

Coppin State (5-16, 1-5 MEAC) led by as many as 14 points in the half and took a 10-point lead into halftime. Morgan State (10-12, 4-3) struggled to make shots early in a game where both teams shot under 30% from the field.

A chippy last few minutes of the first half ended with the head coaches, Kevin Broadus and Juan Dixon, exchanging words yards away while heading to their locker rooms.

It was the first meeting between first-year head coach Broadus and Dixon, who both had stints as assistant coaches at the University of Maryland.