NORFOLK, Va. – The first step in Hampton University men's basketball's title defense was a success Wednesday night at Norfolk Scope, as the top-seeded Pirates defeated Morgan State 83-81.
 
The Pirates (19-10) will face either Bethune-Cookman or Savannah State in Friday's semifinal.
 
"It was a hard-fought game by both teams," Hampton coach Edward Joyner, Jr. said. "More times than not this year, they've fought their way through situations both good and bad, and they did that again tonight."
 
Reginald Johnson, Jr. led four Pirates in double figures with 19 points, while also dishing out a career-high 13 assists for his first double-double of the season. Johnson's assist total is tied for fourth-most in a single game in program history, and it tied the MEAC Tournament record for assists in a game.
 
Quinton Chievous added 17 points on 8-for-15 shooting and a team-high nine rebounds, while Brian Darden chipped in 14 points. Jervon Pressley came off the bench to give the Pirates 10 points and five rebounds.
 
Hampton shot 51.5 percent (34-for-66) from the floor and hit five of its 16 3-pointers. The Pirates also out-rebounded the Bears 37-32 – even though the rebounding battle was knotted up at 18-18 after the first 20 minutes.
 
The Pirates also dominated inside, with 56 points in the paint to Morgan State's 36.
 
Morgan State led 11-4 in the early going, before the Pirates responded with eight unanswered points to take a 16-11 lead after a Pressley layup at the 15:28 mark. Ultimately, the run ballooned to 19-2, giving the Pirates a 23-13 lead with 14:05 left in the half following another Pressley layup.
 
The Bears then went on a 23-9 run, taking a 36-32 lead on a 3-point play from Donte Pretlow with 4:27 left in the half. But Hampton scored the next nine points to take a 41-36 lead with 43 seconds left.
 
Hampton led 43-38 at the half.
 
Chievous and Pressley each had nine points at the break.
 
There were two ties in the opening five minutes of the second half, and the Bears tied the game at 47-47 at the 15:47 mark on a jumper from Antonio Gillespie. But the Pirates answered with an 11-2 run, taking a 58-49 lead on a Johnson three.
 
The Bears clawed their way back to within three, before the Pirates against opened up a nine-point lead, 67-58, after a Johnson fastbreak layup with 9:25 remaining. Hampton's largest lead came with 6:37 left to play, when another Johnson fastbreak gave the Pirates a 72-61 lead.
 
From that point on, the game hovered anywhere between two and four possessions, and a Johnson layup with 3:00 left put the Pirates up 80-70. Chievous added a layup with 1:37 remaining to give Hampton an 83-75 lead.
 
Phillip Carr cut that lead to five with a three, but in the final moments of the game, the Bears elected not to play the foul game – meaning that when Pretlow rattled in a three at the buzzer, it only cut the deficit to two.
 
The ninth-seeded Bears (9-22) shot 50.8 percent (32-for-63) from the floor and went 8-for-15 (53.3 percent) from behind the arc.
 
Pretlow led three Bears in double figures with a game-high 27 points.
 
"You can worry (about the defense) in terms of the numbers, but this time of year it's about survive and advance," Joyner said. "That's it. I don't care if we shot 100 and they shot 99 – or they shot 99 and we shot 98. It's about winning the game at this point."
 
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.