Game Notes

BALTIMORE, Md. – The Hampton University men's basketball team will continue its road trip on Saturday, taking on the Bears on Morgan State at the Talmadge Hill Field House at 4 p.m.

This will be the third of five straight road games for the Pirates.

The Pirates (6-13, 3-3 MEAC), in their fourth season under head coach Edward Joyner Jr., snapped a three-game losing streak on Wednesday with a 64-60 win at South Carolina State. Junior guard Ramon Mercado (Hollywood, Fla.) led the way with 14 points, while freshman guard Dwight Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) added 13 points.

The Bears (6-11, 3-3 MEAC) fell 69-61 at North Carolina Central on Monday, despite 20 points each from junior guard/forward Justin Black and junior guard Anthony Hubbard. Hubbard also had a team-high nine rebounds.

The Bears went 9-20 last season, finishing ninth in the MEAC with a mark of 6-10 before falling to Hampton in the first round of the MEAC Tournament. Morgan State, in its seventh season under head coach Todd Bozeman, returns two starters and six letterwinners, and the Bears were picked to finish third in the MEAC this season.

Senior forward DeWayne Jackson leads the Bears in scoring, averaging 14.6 points per game, while Black is pouring in 13.5 points per contest. Hubbard is averaging 12.5 points per game, to go along with a team-high 6.9 rebounds per contest.

The Bears are averaging 67.5 points a game on offense, while giving up 71.8 points a night.

Since moving up to the Div. I level in 1995, the Pirates are 22-12 against Morgan State and have won three of the last five meetings – despite falling to the Bears 80-78 earlier this season. Prior to that streak, the Bears had won three straight over the Pirates. Hampton had won nine straight in the series from 1999-2003, the longest such streak in the series.

The Pirates are 7-6 against Morgan State on the road.

Hampton is 202-122 all-time as a Div. I program (since 1995) against teams currently in the MEAC, including a 6-10 mark in the conference last season. So far this season, Hampton is 3-3 in MEAC play this season, with two of those wins coming against rival Howard. The Pirates have faced every team currently in the MEAC at least once, including newcomers North Carolina Central and Savannah State.

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 went 1-13 on the road last season, with that lone win coming at Florida A&M, 74-59, on Feb. 25. For his career, Joyner is 17-34 on the road after Hampton's season-opening loss at William & Mary, a 68-58 loss at Richmond, a 75-67 loss at Ohio, a 61-60 loss at UNC Wilmington, a 73-64 loss at Radford, a 50-43 loss at Winthrop, and a 68-49 loss at USC Upstate.

Hampton's first road win of the season came on Jan. 12 in a 51-49 win over Howard, but the Pirates fell at Norfolk State 74-67 on Jan. 26 before beating South Carolina State 64-60 on Wednesday. In 2010-11, when the Pirates won the MEAC Tournament championship, Hampton was 8-5 in true road contests.

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.