Coppin State now alone atop MEAC North

Clayton scores 20 points to lift Eagles over Norfolk State

Coppin State senior point guard Dejuan Clayton never played in a victory over Norfolk State in the three seasons leading up to his senior year, and the Eagles had lost 14 straight to the Spartans. Those disappointments ended with an 81-71 home victory over the visiting Spartans on Saturday afternoon.

Clayton led the way with 20 points and also had a team-high six assists. He added seven rebounds in a performance where five Coppin State players were in double figures.

Norfolk State’s Joe Bryant finished with a game-high 21 points.

“That’s what we preach,” Clayton said. “Our coaches preach it — we play defense, we give them effort on defense and we have the freedom to do what we want on offense.

“As a team, we understand that we have multiple options and multiple scorers. So we make it hard on teams when we share the ball.”

Coppin State (5-9, 4-1 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) entered Saturday’s matchup with Norfolk State (8-5, 3-2) tied for first in the MEAC North with a 3-1 division record. While the Eagles struggled with a 1-8 nonconference record last season, they’ve made their case as a contender in their own division this season.

Coppin coach Juan Dixon has witnessed firsthand the amount of energy the team has played with since Clayton returned from a five-game hiatus for personal reasons.

The Eagles can get 20 points from each of their top seven scorers on any given night. That makes them dangerous down the stretch of the MEAC season.

“In our nonconference schedule, we were without our point guard Dejuan Clayton for five games,” Dixon said. “He was dealing with some personal stuff. There were quite a few nonconference games that we could’ve won, but we tell our guys that we’d like to break our seasons into thirds — nonconference, in conference and the conference tournament. We’re in the second part of our season and we want to play our best basketball going into March. It feels good to be 4-1, but we have a lot of work to do and we just have to keep grinding.”

The Eagles struggled from the field in the first four minutes. Koby Thomas had Coppin State’s first three points as the Eagles went 1-for-6 from the field. Soon after, players had to be separated after a hard foul. Both coaches received technical fouls. Devante Carter immediately made an impact on Norfolk State’s end with a quick seven points in the first eight minutes.

However, momentum swung in the direction of Coppin State with Anthony Tarke’s play — a steal, a dunk and converting a threepoint play. Then Clayton came up big by knocking down two free throws. Thomas hit another 3-pointer and finished off the half with a steal and a layup for nine points. Coppin State led 40-30 at the conclusion of the first half.

Coppin State went on to control its lead through the second half. The team’s only scare came when it led by just six points when Norfolk State’s Kashaun Hicks hit a 3-pointer with under 16 minutes remaining. Eagles forward Kenan Sarvan knocked down two consecutive 3-pointers and Kyle Cardaci hit two more for a 57-47 lead in under 12 minutes left.

The Eagles began to pull away when forward Yuat Alok finished with a layup and converted his free-throw attempt. Clayton hit a 3-pointer right after to give them a 12-point lead. Thomas was assessed his second technical foul, finishing with Coppin State’s largest lead came with 1:33 remaining with the entire starting lineup subbed out.

“It was big. Going into the game today against Norfolk, it was a lot on the line,” Dixon said. “It was for first in the division, they’re a very good ballclub, but we just wanted our guys to come out and play with a lot of effort on the defensive end. [We] had to execute the game plan, be familiar with the personnel that’s on the floor and offensively, we just wanted to play in transition.”

American 71, Loyola Maryland 70: Santi Aldama scored a career-high 25 points and had his third career double double with 10 rebounds, but Loyola lost its third game of the season by two points or less as American University came away.

The loss comes after a pair of two-point losses to Lafayette College last weekend. Loyola (0-3, 0-1 Patriot League South) was again down its three top returning perimeter scorers from a season ago due to injury.

Jaylin Andrews (Boys’ Latin) also had a double-double for the Greyhounds, the second of his career, with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Luke Johnson added a careerhigh 10 points off the bench for the Greyhounds.

Loyola and American meet again on Sunday evening when the Greyhounds host the Eagles at 6 p.m. in Reitz Arena.

Hofstra 71, Towson 58: Isaac Kante scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead host Hofstra.

Kvonn Cramer had 16 points for Hofstra (8-6, 4-3 Colonial Athletic Association). Jalen Ray scored 16 points and Tareq Coburn had 12 points with nine rebounds.

Zane Martin had 17 points for the Tigers (3-6, 2-2), Jason Gibson scored 12 and Nicolas Timberlake 10.

Women

Navy 63, Army 49: Jennifer Coleman had 21 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and three assists to lead the Mids (2-5, 2-1 Patriot

League) as they held off a late charge by their archrival at West Point.

Sophie Gatzounas added 16 points and Kolbi Green added nine points.

American 64, Loyola Maryland 45:

Karla Vres totaled 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, leading four American players in double figures.

The Eagles (2-3) outscored the Greyhounds (0-3) by a 32-10 margin over the final 13:38 of regulation, as Loyola faded late in its first contest since January 3. Taleah Dixon scored a team-high 12 points for the home side, while Isabella Therien contributed five points and five rebounds in her first start since Jan. 23, 2019.

The Greyhounds were playing in their first contest in 20 days after their games over the past two weekends were postponed due to positive COVID-19 results among their opponents’ Tier 1 groups.

The two sides will meet again in Washington, D.C., Sunday, with opening tip at Bender Arena scheduled for 4 p.m.

Mount St. Mary’s 81, Central Connecticut 52: The Mount transformed a comfortable 12-point halftime lead into a convincing 29-point victory Saturday, using a dominant second half to defeat the Blue Devils.

EveryMountaineer made an impact, led by 16 points from Michaela Harrison. Senior Kayla Agentowicz chipped in 11 points with five rebounds, and Rebecca Lee (Old Mill) came within two points and a rebound of a double double.

The Mount (5-3, 4-1 NEC) shot 50% (36-72) from the field, and reached the 80-point threshold despite making just five triples. Offense was instead fed through the paint, with the Mount scoring 52 points in the lane. There were 16 steals that led to 22 fast break points — the most in a game since November 2019 against Frostburg State.

Central Connecticut (2-3, 2-3 NEC) was led by Emma McCamus and Anqelique Rodriguez, who each had nine. Ashley Forker added eight rebounds.