On Jan. 21, the first time the Morgan State men’s basketball team played Howard this season, Bears star wing Malik Miller suffered a season-ending torn ACL.
The second time Morgan played Howard, the Bears put forth their best offensive effort since Miller went down. Five players scored 12 or more points for Morgan in its 89-76 win against Howard on Feb. 20, which marked the Bears’ third win in eight games without Miller. Morgan moved to 13-14 overall and 5-6 in the MEAC with the victory.
Miller averaged 17.5 points, 9.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists in 19 games this season. Morgan head coach Kevin Broadus explained that there was an adjustment process for the team following the injury given that Miller is the “heart and soul” of the Bears.
“You feel bad for yourself and you say, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ But no, it happens to everybody,” Broadus said following the win against Howard. “You look around and say, ‘OK, this guy’s got to step up, this guy’s got to step up.’
“And I’m not just talking about scoring, because Malik did more than scoring. He rebounded. He defended. He used to clear up everyone’s mistake. We don’t have him. Now we’ve got to count on everybody to do their part, and I’m not just talking about scoring. I’m talking about rebounding, defending, sharing the game.”
Indeed, Morgan got contributions up and down the lineup against the Bison on Feb. 20. Wing Will Thomas led the way with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Big man Lewis Djonkam had 17 points, six rebounds and three assists. Guards Kamron Hobbs and Isaiah Burke each had 14 points, with Hobbs adding five assists. Guard Rob Lawson had 12 points off the bench.
It was Hobbs who made two huge 3-pointers late to put away Howard. With a little less than five minutes to go in regulation, Djonkam chased down a loose ball off of a Lawson missed 3-pointer and flipped the ball to Hobbs, who sank a three to push Morgan’s lead to 69-59. Then, with 3:30 left, Hobbs made another three for a 74-63 lead.
Hobbs credited director of basketball operations Austin Freeman for keeping him focused throughout the game so that he was ready to deliver when his time came.
“This is the effort we all knew we had inside of us,” said Hobbs, a third-year guard out of Stockbridge, Ga. “We just needed to come together at the right time.”
While Hobbs put the finishing touches on the Bison, the biggest development for the Bears may have been the play of Thomas, a 2020 Mervo graduate who has received more consistent minutes since Miller’s injury. His 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting are the most he has scored since he put up 27 against Norfolk State on Jan. 23.
Thomas made his presence felt from deep (3-for-6 from long range) and the free-throw line (7-of-8). He said the performance was made possible by simply listening to his coach and trusting his teammates. So what message had Broadus tried to get across to Thomas?
“I hate to say it like this. A lot of times, kids of this generation got to see the ball go in. Once the ball goes in, then the rest of their game elevates,” Broadus said. “And tonight … the ball went in and his game elevated on both sides, but it shouldn’t like that. You can’t be a one-way player, you know? You’ve got to be a two-way player. You’ve got to play offense and defense.”
Thomas and Hobbs had it working from the outside, but Djonkam brought efficient play to the post, as he has for much of the season. The sixth-year big man out of Springfield, Va., is shooting 55.1 percent from the field this year, and he made 8 of 12 shots against Howard with a combination of a deft mid-range touch and crafty play at the rim.
This marked Djonkam’s third game with 17 or more points in his last five outings.
“Really, it was my teammates,” Djonkam said. “My teammates gave me the confidence and tell me to take that one more dribble and shoot the ball. We do it every day in practice, four-minute shooting. I mean, I can shoot. The fact that they were backing off on me, very disrespectful, but I showed that tonight.”
Without Miller, Morgan will need similarly balanced efforts the rest of the way to have a shot at the MEAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears have three more regular-season contests remaining, starting with Delaware State on Feb. 25, and then the MEAC tournament from March 8-11.
An 89-point, 18-assist effort against first-place Howard was a good start.
“There’s no hero ball out there. If you look at the stat sheet, it’s spread out all around,” Broadus said. “That’s what good teams do. I’m not saying we’re there yet as a good team. We’re fighting every day. We’re trying to make things better, and we’re trying to get back into the thick of things, into the hunt and move up a little bit. I want to take my hat off to these guys tonight.”
BEARS NOTEBOOK
MAGICAL NIGHT: Hoops legend Magic Johnson was at Morgan State on Feb. 20 as part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Thurgood Marshall Dining Hall that opened on campus in January. Johnson is the chairman of SodexoMagic, Morgan’s dining services provider.
Johnson spoke to the Bears’ men’s and women’s hoops teams during his trip to Baltimore and took in some hoops to cap things off. Morgan head coach Kevin Broadus explained Johnson’s message to his squad.
“It’s about preparation. It’s about practice,” Broadus said. “They want to laugh at Allen Iverson. ‘Practice?’ But I always say this: Practice makes permanent. How you practice is how you play. Practice don’t make perfect because none of us are perfect. How you practice is how you play, and our practice leading up to this game was pretty good yesterday.”
BIG CROWD: As Patrick Stevens noted, the announced attendance of 4,880 for Morgan-Howard made for a standing-room-only crowd at Hill Field House. It was a rowdy atmosphere from pregame to the final buzzer, and Broadus appreciated the support.
“That was incredible. That was one of the best since I’ve been here,” said Broadus, who is in his fourth season with the Bears. “The fan support, from the students to the community and everyone, I want to take my hat off and thank all of y’all because without y’all, we couldn’t have done it. We really couldn’t have done it. I just want to say thank you.”
BROADUS, DOCKERY CROSS PATHS AGAIN: One of Howard’s key contributors this season has been Marcus Dockery, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound guard who spent the first two years of his college career at Maryland before transferring to Howard ahead of the 2022-23 season. Dockery is averaging 9.8 points per game and shooting 44.1 percent from 3-point range.
Broadus said Dockery was one of the last players he recruited as an assistant at Maryland before taking the head coaching job at Morgan State in May 2019.
“He didn’t even give us a look when he went in the transfer [portal], and that’s fine,” Broadus said. “You’ve got to go [with] what fits you, and I get that. We speak from time to time. That’s part of this game. I know his family very well, grew up with his dad uptown in D.C. I wish nothing but the best for him other than when he plays us.”
Photo Credits: Courtesy of Morgan State Athletics