WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Hampton University men's basketball team will square off against Morgan State on Tuesday in the first round of the 2012 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Basketball Tournament at 11 a.m. in the Joel Memorial Coliseum.

The Pirates are the No. 8 seed, while Morgan State is the No. 9 seed. The game will be a rematch of last year's MEAC championship game, which Hampton won 60-55 for its first MEAC tournament title since 2006.

The Pirates (10-20), in their third season under head coach Edward Joyner Jr., fell 60-45 at home to North Carolina Central on Thursday to close out the regular season. Senior guard Darrion Pellum (Hampton, Va.), a First Team All-MEAC selection who leads the conference in scoring at 18.1 points a game, led the way with 12 points, while senior guard Mike Tuitt (Bronx, N.Y.) added 10 points in the loss.

The Bears (9-19) closed out the regular season with their second straight win on Thursday, beating Florida A&M 74-68 in Tallahassee, Fla. Senior guard/forward Aric Brooks led Morgan State with 16 points, while sophomore guard/forward Justin Black added 12 points and freshman forward Shaquille Duncan added 10 points.

The Bears went 17-14 overall last season, finishing fourth in the MEAC with a 10-6 record before falling to Hampton in the MEAC Tournament championship game. Morgan State, under sixth-year head coach Todd Bozeman, return all five starters and 10 letterwinners from last season, and the Bears were picked to win the MEAC this season.

Instead, Morgan State finished in a tie for eighth with Hampton, losing the tiebreaker to take the No. 9 seed. The Bears are 9-19 this season with a 6-10 mark in conference play.

Junior forward DeWayne Jackson is the team's top scorer, pouring in 12.4 points per game, while senior forward Kevin Thompson is averaging 10.8 points a night to go along with a team-high 7.9 rebounds per contest.

The Bears are averaging 66.8 points a night on offense, while giving up 69.6 points per game.

Since moving up to Div. I in 1995, the Pirates are 21-11 against Morgan State, beating the Bears 60-55 in the MEAC Tournament championship game last season after losing three straight in the series. Morgan State won the first meeting between the two teams this season, taking a 68-56 win at Hill Field House on Jan. 16, before Hampton returned the favor at the HU Convocation Center on Jan. 30 with a 68-63 win.

Hampton and Morgan State first met on Jan. 5, 1997, with the Pirates winning 61-59. From 1999-2003, the Pirates won nine straight over the Bears, and the Pirates are 4-2 against Morgan State on neutral courts.

Hampton is 197-119 all-time as a Div. I program (since 1995) against teams currently in the MEAC, including an 11-5 mark in the conference last season. Since joining the MEAC in 1995, the Pirates have won two regular-season conference titles (2000-01, 2001-02) and four MEAC Tournament crowns (2001, 2002, 2006, 2011).

The Pirates 3-2 on neutral courts so far this season, having split a pair of games in Cancun, Mexico on Nov. 22-23 (beating SIU-Edwardsville 68-64 and falling 78-71 to Sacred Heart) and defeating arch-rival Howard 71-53 in the Big Apple Classic at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 4. The Pirates also split a pair of games in the Dr. Pepper Classic on Dec. 29-30, falling 42-40 to Utah Valley before beating Longwood 82-79.

For his career as a head coach, Joyner is 13-6 on neutral courts.

For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.