The Morehouse College Maroon Tigers Men’s Basketball Team will move on to the next round of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship tournament after defeating Edward Waters University 72-62. The game started pretty slow with both teams playing a bit tight, turning the ball over and missing point-blank layups. Morehouse College JerMonte Hill got the Maroon Tigers score the first point in the game on a pair of free throws after being fouled while shooting a 5-foot shot.
Both teams played a lot of zone defense and blitzed the ball handlers, forcing turnovers or bad shot selections throughout the game. Edward Waters cut the Maroon Tigers’ lead to 6 points with under 2 minutes left in the first half on a Myles Hosten dunk. Morehouse JerMontae Hill shot a three-pointer just past the half-court line at the buzzer that went in, pushing the Maroon Tigers’ lead back to 11 points with the score at the half being 36-25.
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The Tigers of Edward Waters showed they didn’t have any quit in them, fighting valiantly to win this game against Morehouse College. They fell short due to their lack of making three-pointers and missed too many open shots around the basket. Edward Waters success on the defensive end of the court, pressing the Maroon Tigers’ ball handlers when they inbound the ball, and trapping the ball handler 90 to 60 feet from their basket, forcing turnovers and sprinting back with the Tigers’ ball handler driving to the basket, making layups. The Maroon Tigers were able to secure a 15-point lead in the second half, but Edward Waters refused to go away and cut the lead to 8 points.
Edward Waters understood they had to cut out the turnovers if they wanted to win this game and move on to the next round. Both teams had turnover problems. Edward Waters had 11, and Morehouse College had 9 turnovers for the first half. The Tigers of Edward Waters turned their defense up in the second half, cutting the lead to 5 points, but the Maroon Tigers continued to make a living from behind the three-point line, making 9 of 25, and Edward Waters went 5 of 13. Edward Waters played one heck of a game, but came up short. The Tigers had three players score double digits. Jaelen Nelson scored 17 points, 7 rebounds, Keshawn Evans scored 12 points, 9 rebounds, and Myles Hosten scored 11 points, 4 rebounds.
The Maroon Tigers had three players scoring double digits. Brandon Peters, 20 points, 9 rebounds; Josiah Lawson, 17 points, 3 rebounds; and JerMontae Hill, 13 points, 10 rebounds. The Maroon Tigers are awaiting to see who their next opponent will be: Savannah State or Miles College, tonight at 8 pm. Whoever wins that match-up will play Morehouse College Friday night.