Spartans rebound at BCA Classic with 62-49 win over Morgan St.

SEATTLE, WA – Sophomore Kyle Hines returned to the lineup to the tune of 18 points and seven rebounds as UNC Greensboro defeated Morgan State, 62-49, in a consolation bracket game at the 2005 BCA Classic.

“Kyle’s presence makes a difference for us with his ability to catch, turn and score,” said UNCG coach Mike Dement, who picked up his first win in his second tenure with the Spartans. “The big thing is we executed better tonight and we got some big baskets at some key moments. They made a run early in the second half, but we were able to answer it.”

Sophomore Kevin Oleksiak added 12 points for the second consecutive game. The Spartans also got 10 points from sophomore Brian Beckford, his second straight double-digit scoring game.

UNCG (1-1) will face Texas-Arlington in the fifth-place game on Tuesday at 2 pm local time (5 pm ET). The Mavericks defeated Northern Arizona in Monday’s first game.

The Saprtans held a 27-21 lead at the intermission, behind Hines’ 10 points. The first half was a see-saw affair for the most part. The Spartans opened up a six-point lead with a 9-1 run in which UNCG held the Bears without a field goal for nearly seven minutes. But UNCG went six minutes without a field goal to allow the Bears to catch up and grab a two-point lead at 17-15. But UNCG closed out the half by scoring 12 of the final 16 points, including a mid-court lob off in-bounds from Everson Simmons to David McClenny to finish the half and give the Spartans a six-point halftime lead.

Morgan State scored the first seven points of the second half to take the lead. But after a UNCG timeout, the Spartans scored six straight, capped off by a Dwayne Johnson steal and feed to Kevin Oleksiak for an easy layup, to regain a five-point advantage and force the Bears to take a timeout.

That began a 16-0 UNCG run that opened up the first double-digit lead of the game, 43-28. Morgan State went more than eight minutes without a point during that run.

Morgan State made a run after that, but the Spartans were able keep the margin in double digits the rest of the way.

UNCG played without two potential starters. Ricky Hickman and Matt Akinosho were sitting out the second game of their two-game suspensions for playing in an unsanctioned recreation league. Hines served a one-game suspension on Sunday and returned to the lineup on Monday. Hickman and Akinosho return to the line-p for UNCG’s game on Tuesday.

AGATE

UNC GREENSBORO 62, MORGAN STATE 49

UNC GREENSBORO (1-1)
Hines, Kyle 7-16 4-8 18; Oleksiak, Kevin 3-8 6-6 12; Beckford, Brian 4-7 2-2 10; Simmons, Everson 2-3 3-4 8; Johnson, Dwayne 2-3 3-3 7; Tooms, Bart 1-2 2-2 4; McClenny, David 1-6 0-0 2; Campbell, Marc 0-0 1-2 1; Moore, Donald 0-0 0-0 0; Everette, Dustin 0-0 0-0 0; Boddie, Devin 0-0 0-0 0; Bernard, Derrick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 21-27 62.

MORGAN STATE (0-2)
Lee, Andrew 9-12 1-2 19; McLean, Joseph 6-11 1-1 14; Gomes, Marcus 3-6 0-1 6; Aujla, Karanvir 1-7 0-0 3; Mathis, Timothy 1-10 0-0 3; Jenkins, Dedrick 1-3 0-0 2; Lymas, Fred 1-4 0-0 2; McIver, Joseph 0-1 0-0 0; O'Reggio, Aaron 0-0 0-2 0; Berkley, Timothy 0-3 0-0 0; Warfield, Chris 0-1 0-0 0; Barnes II, Rogers 0-0 0-0 0; Reed, James 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 2-6 49.

Halftime: UNCG 27-21. 3-point goals-UNC Greensboro 1-4 (Simmons, Everson 1-1; Oleksiak, Kevin 0-3), Morgan State 3-12 (Mathis, Timothy 1-2; McLean, Joseph 1-2; Aujla, Karanvir 1-3; Lymas, Fred 0-3; Gomes, Marcus 0-2). Fouled out—UNC Greensboro-None, Morgan State-Lee, Andrew. Rebounds-UNC Greensboro 35 (Hines, Kyle 7), Morgan State 29 (Lee, Andrew 7). Assists-UNC Greensboro 14 (Simmons, Everson 3; Hines, Kyle 3; Beckford, Brian 3; Johnson, Dwayne 3), Morgan State 13 (Mathis, Timothy 6). Total fouls-UNC Greensboro 16, Morgan State 24.

- UNCG -