BALTIMORE (AP)—Reggie Holmes scored 16 points, Marquise Kately added 15 points and six rebounds and Morgan State held off Bethune-Cookman for a 59-50 victory Monday.
Morgan State (9-8) used a 20-1 run to build a 20-point lead in the first half, but nearly relinquished it during the second. Dominique Whatley’s 3-pointer with two minutes to play cut the Bears’ lead to 53-48, but Bethune-Cookman couldn’t get any closer.
Jimmy Hudson scored 16 points and Dewayne Pettus finished with 15 points for the Wildcats (7-11), who were held to 15 points in the first half.
Kately’s layup with 9:58 left in the first half gave Morgan State a 16-6 lead, and Boubacar Coly followed with a reverse layup to put the Bears up by 12. Holmes finished off the 20-1 run with a 3-pointer in the left corner to put Morgan State ahead 25-6.
Hudson ended the Wildcats’ 6-minute, 43-second scoring drought with a jumper 19 seconds later. Kately sank a turnaround jumper from the right wing to stretch Morgan State’s lead to 35-25 with 15:43 left in the second half.
Two minutes later, Kately finished off the breakaway with a two-handed dunk to put the Bears up by 14. Hudson knocked down a 3-pointer from the left wing with 10:11 to play to cut the Wildcats’ deficit to 41-34.
But Kately followed Holmes’ miss with a dunk to put the Bears back up by nine, and Jerrell Green’s jumper with 7:38 left made it 45-34.
