Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks AT Morgan State Bears
Feb 21, 2011 at 9 PM EST
Opening Line: Morgan State -13
Current Line: Morgan State -14
Opening Total: 142
Current Total: 140.5
Opening Moneyline: Mor St -1200 / Md E +800
Current Moneyline: Mor St -1525 / Md E +925
Tonight’s game brings together Mid Eastern Atlantic Conference opponents Maryland Eastern Shore and Morgan State. Maryland-Eastern Shore is a destitute 6-20 with a 3-10 conference record, which ranks them 2nd to last in the MEAC. Morgan State (13-10) has a conference record of 8-3, good for 2nd in the MEAC.
Morgan State, despite having a winning record, has a -1.3 point differential, scoring 68.3 a game and giving up 69.6. Maryland Eastern Shore has a -11.3 differential, scoring 68.0 and giving up 79.3. Their atrocious defense will have to improve to have any shot at covering tonight’s spread. The combinative average of the teams’ offensive output is 136.3, under the 142 opening total, but it’s hard to have a basis for comparison between two teams that are usually outmatched.
Maryland Eastern Shore has lost 8 of their last 10 games. They have a 13 game road losing streak and haven’t won on the road since November 27th against the Navy. They’ve only won 3 games in 2011 so far out of 15 games, and have lost their last three games by an average of 15.3 points per game.
Morgan State has won 8 of their last 11 games and are 9-1 at home this year. They have won 3 straight and have won by an average of 6.3 points per game.
The Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks are led by 6’6″ junior guard Hillary Haley. Haley is far and away the best scorer and player on the Hawks, averaging 16.9 points per game, 5.7 rebounds per game, and shooting 33.8% from three (45 of 133). He has scored in double figures in 21 of the Hawks 26 games and in the 5 games which he did not score over ten points the Hawks are 0-5, so if Morgan State can keep Haley from getting a lot of easy looks, this one should be a blowout.
Morgan State is led by the trio of Dewayne Jackson, Kevin Thompson, and Aric Brooks. The three combine to score 38.5 points per game, 56% of Morgan State’s offensive output. Jackson, a 6’8″ sophomore forward, leads the way in scoring with 14.9 points per game. He also grabs 4.3 boards per game and gathers 1.5 steals per night. His field goal percentage is a low 40.6% due to a poor shot selection. He shoots 26% from three, yet has already attempted 141, far too many for someone of his shooting prowess. Morgan State is not a good three point shooting team, with the team shooting less than 30% from distance. If Maryland-Eastern Shore can keep Morgan State’s bigs from getting involved, and force Morgan State to shoot a lot of jumpers, they could find a way to cover tonight’s spread. Morgan State could theoretically shoot themselves in the foot by simply taking what the defense gives them.
