By: Aaron Robinson
It was a welcome home party in West Baltimore this evening as Coppin State welcomed back their senior leader Dejuan Clayton from a six game hiatus. Clayton, a six-foot-two inch forward from Bowie, Maryland, poured in a career high 32 points and added six assists and five rebounds to lead the Eagles to an 86-78 victory over Delaware State University on Monday evening.
“It means a lot to get our quarterback back,” Coppin State head coach Juan Dixon said. “To have him back out there making plays for himself, making plays for his teammates, it was huge for us.”
Clayton also knocked down a career high 14 of 15 free throws on a night where the Eagles shot 42 freebies.
“I noticed Delaware State’s defense was very aggressive and they were picking me up high, so I just used my quickness and speed to get to the line and get easy points,” Clayton said when asked about the plethora of free throws that he shot.
Delaware State head coach Eric Skeeters was clearly unhappy with the way the game was being called, as his Hornets shot just 11 free throws on the evening.
Dixon though, says it was a product of his teams skillset and mentality.
“Coach Skeeters was complaining about the difference in the free throw attempts, but our guys were getting downhill and making plays at the basket,” Dixon said. “A foul is a foul, so we are going to continue to have that mindset.”
The free throw numbers though, do not tell the whole story of the game.
Delaware State was the aggressor for the majority of the evening, beating Coppin State to loose balls and earning extra possessions on the glass.
Through the first 20 minutes of action, the Hornets outrebounded the eagles 23-14, forced 11 turnovers, and scored 12 points off those turnovers. They scored 16 points in the paint on the way to a 40-35 halftime lead.
The first four minutes of the second half was much of the same for the Hornets as they grabbed three offensive rebounds, scoring six points en route to a 47-37 lead.
The two teams would trade baskets for the next 10 or so minutes but with 6:53 to go, the tide began to turn for the Eagles.
A technical foul was called on Zach Kent as the Hornets held a 68-58 lead with 6:52 to play.
Kenan Sarvan, a six-foot-10 inch freshman from the Netherlands, knocked down the technical free throw to cut the lead to single digits, and it was from here that the Eagles began to chip away.
Clayton would score 12 of his 26 second half points in the final seven minutes of the ballgame to seal the deal for the Eagles.
“I knew we had to come in here and start off MEAC play right and get a win,” Clayton said when asked about his contribution on the evening.
But Clayton also got big time contributions from his teammates, as four other Eagles scored in double figures.
Kyle Cardaci, a six-foot-two inch sophomore guard from Holmdel, New Jersey knocked down five of seven three pointers on route to a 15 point outing. Over his last three games, Cardaci has found his stroke, connecting on 15 of 27 threes, good for over 55% from beyond the arc.
The sharp shooter is averaging over 15 points per game during this stretch, and the Eagles will count on Cardaci’s ability to stretch the floor more and more as the season progresses.
“Kyle has been shooting the ball really well as of late,” Dixon said. “He’s starting to see the ball go in the basket and get his confidence, he’s really going to stretch the floor for us.”
Along with Clayton and Cardaci, Koby Thomas, Nendah Tarke and Anthony Tarke all scored in double figures for Coppin State on Monday evening.
Thomas, a preseason first team All-MEAC selection, scored 10 points to go along with four boards and two steals.
Nendah Tarke, a six-foot-four inch freshman from Gaithersburg, Maryland, had a great night off the bench scoring 11 points, knocking down nine of 13 free throws, to go along with eight rebounds, five steals, and two assists.
His older brother, Anthony, the team’s leading scorer entering the evening, had a quiet 14 points on 4-9 shooting, with eight rebounds, four steals, and four blocks.
This would be quite the stat line for any player on a normal evening, but for Tarke, who averages about 14 shot attempts per game, to only shoot nine on an evening where Coppin needed every bucket, there is cause for concern.
“It starts on the defensive end for him,” Dixon said when asked how he could get Tarke some easier baskets moving forward. “You see him getting steals in the second half and finishing with dunks, they (Tarke and Thomas) have just got to play with that kind of passion on the defensive end.”
It will be a quick turnaround for both the Eagles and the Hornets as game two of the back to back will be played Tuesday evening at 8pm in the Physical Education Complex in West Baltimore.