Morgan State men’s basketball redshirt senior wing Will Thomas admitted he texted his team’s group chat the day before his final game at Hill Field House and “shed a few tears.”
On March 3, Thomas scored 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting in an 87-81 win against Delaware State. The Bears moved to 13-16 overall and 7-6 in the MEAC with the regular-season finale at Coppin State on deck on March 6.
Though Thomas has more goals to achieve this year, Senior Night was an emotional experience for him. He has been at Morgan for five years, redshirting in 2020-21 before racking up more than 1,100 points across four seasons. The Baltimore native and Mervo graduate had family at every home game, and that was no different against Delaware State.
“It’s been an honor, honestly,” Thomas said. “I mean, [there are] a lot of people on this team. I think I’m probably the only Baltimore kid that brings family. Everybody doesn’t have a lot of family. I would say it’s a blessing for me. It’s definitely a blessing.”
Thomas is averaging 14.3 points on 46.3 percent shooting from the field, 40.4 percent from 3-point range and 82.2 percent from the line in 29 games (21 starts). The 6-foot-6, 200-pound wing is also pulling down 3.8 rebounds and dishing out 2.0 assists per contest.
The Delaware State game also marked Senior Night for Kam Hobbs, who is averaging 15.9 points per game on 44.5/35.2/84.7 shooting splits. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound guard has scored double-figure points in 18 consecutive games to help make up for the loss of graduate guard Wynston Tabbs.
Hobbs and Thomas lead a Bears team that is tops in the MEAC in scoring (80.6 points per game) and third in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, a college hoops analytics site.
“We go home together. We walk. We’re really locked in,” Thomas said of his connection with Hobbs. “It’s good, especially with us being the two best players on the team, when our chemistry is like that, that’s my brother, man.”
Head coach Kevin Broadus gave Thomas a hard time for the two-best-players declaration, but anybody who has watched Morgan the past few years knows how important those two players are.
“They are the heart and soul of this team,” Broadus said.
Morgan led by as many as 21 points in the second half against Delaware State, but that lead shrunk to five with less than a minute to go as the Bears struggled to break the Hornets’ press. Regardless, Morgan crossed the finish line and now has one more tune-up before the MEAC tournament, which takes place from March 12-15 in Norfolk.
The winner of the tournament earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears haven’t been to the Big Dance since 2010. Hobbs and Thomas want to extend their final season at Morgan State.
“We’ve got to make ourselves have a lot of games left,” Hobbs said.
FORMER TERP FINISHING PRODUCTIVE CAREER
Elsewhere in the MEAC, fifth-year senior Marcus Dockery is wrapping up three productive seasons at Howard after two years at Maryland.
The 6-foot-2, 170-pound guard is averaging 16.1 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and 40.7 percent shooting from 3-point range entering the Bison’s regular-season finale against Norfolk State. Those numbers are up from 13.5, 42.2 and 40.6 a year ago.
Howard won MEAC championships in 2023 and 2024, with Dockery playing a key role in each trip to the NCAA Tournament. The D.C. native is grateful for the opportunity to play his college ball at home.
“I give all the glory to the man upstairs, all the glory to God because without him, without prayer, I wouldn’t be the man I am today,” Dockery said after a recent game at Morgan State. “[I thank] coach Kenny Blakeney for the opportunity to be a part of a dream where I could be in a program where he’s able to showcase Howard basketball in the city, ‘The Mecca’ of everything in D.C.”
Dockery played sparingly in two otherwise eventful seasons at Maryland. The 2020-21 season was played under strict COVID guidelines but ended in an NCAA Tournament trip. And then in 2021-22, the coach who recruited him — Mark Turgeon — stepped down after eight games.
Dockery still keeps up with many of his former Terps teammates: Eric Ayala, James Graham, Hakim Hart, Darryl Morsell, Donta Scott, Galin Smith and Aquan Smart, a senior guard for NC Central in the MEAC. He left College Park having learned a little bit about mental toughness.
“Just to be resilient, not to let anything you go through discourage you [as far as] who you are as a person, as a human being and myself as a man,” Dockery said. “So just to not get down on myself and just to keep moving forward, that’s what I learned.”
Photo Credit: Chad Chevalier