The Aggies suffered a heartbreaking 52-55 loss against the Morgan State Bears of Baltimore, Maryland. The game was played with a lot of intensity throughout but in the end Morgan State showed their intensity was a little bit more than the Aggies. “[Morgan State] persevered and they played with a lot of determination,” said head coach Cy Alexander.

In the pre-game warms ups, Morgan State’s size seemed like it would be a determining factor of the game that would slow the Aggies down, considering Morgan State was starting their 7’2”  junior center Ian Chiles.

During the game, not all of the Aggies shots were falling down which, to spectators, made it seem like Morgan State’s size was the one thing that was not enabling the Aggies to get good looks. However, according to Alexander that was not the reason. “They’re big but their size didn’t have anything to do with the turnovers we had late. The size didn’t have anything to do with missed free throws that we had. Their size didn’t have anything to do with the lay-up that we missed,” said Alexander.

Another determining factor that might have contributed to the loss was the number of offensive rebounds for both teams. Morgan State had 12 offensive rebounds in total for the game and the Aggies had nine for the total game. The importance is that Morgan State had more second chances to get the ball back and put it in the hoop to make plays.

Defensively the Aggies did well, tying with Morgan State 28-28 for a total number of defensive rebounds which further demonstrates Alexander’s comment on size not being a factor for the Aggies. Defense also proved to be tough as the Aggies outscored Morgan State 6-1 in blocks. Four of the blocks were from senior forward Austin Witter and the other two delivered from junior guard Lamont Middleton and sophomore forward Waylan Siverand. Thus verifying, that the Aggies were a forced to be reckoned with, also taking into account that Morgan State had one extra turnover than the Aggies.

The Aggies were finally able to gain a bit of a lead in the second half with five points being their highest lead with five minutes left to go in the half. However, that lead did not stay for long as the Aggies could not keep the focus. “We didn’t show any mental discipline down the stretch in the game, that’s the thing that’s disappointing,” said Alexander.

In the closing seconds of the game, the Aggies had a chance to tie Morgan State with a simple two point shot. Instead, senior forward Adrian Powell, who was 2-9 with three point shots, decided to shoot a three pointer. “What we asked them to do was if we don’t need a three don’t take a three,” Alexander went on to say, “It’s one thing if you’re going very well and you’re flowing but when you’re two for nine it should kick in that ‘maybe I should try and get this thing to the basket.’”

All in all, the game was very close and the Aggies persevered as best as they could to get the win despite a few mistakes and lack of focus.

The Aggies next opponent is Coppin State. The game will take place in the Corbett Sports Arena and the game time is 8pm. “We’ve got to get back on the horse and not let this loss carry over to Monday,” said Alexander.

• by Uniqua Quillins, contributor