Box Score HARTSVILLE, S.C – The Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team (8-0, 3-0 SAC), ranked 17th in the latest NABC Poll, and off to their best start in school history, won their eighth game in a row as they defeated conference foe Coker (4-3, 0-3 SAC) 75-67 on Wednesday, December 9, 2015.
 
Sean Morgan, coming off of a career-high 30 points in the Royals last contest against Anderson, was lights-out against the Cobras as he scored a new career-high as he dropped 31 points in the game. Morgan was 10-of-11 from the field and hit 11-of-13 free throws in the game. Rob Lewis was the only other Royal to score double digit points as he added 12 points, 10 of which came from the charity stripe. Daniel Camps and Todd Withers were tied for the team led in rebounding as both had seven for Queens.
 
Queens had a rare, tough shooting night as they shot 21-of-55 from the field and 3-of-15 from three-point range. The Royals were able to get to the free throw line 44 times in the game, making 30 of them, and scored 22 second chance points, which was a key factor in the game.
 
The Royals and Cobras went back and forth to start the game, as neither team could get out to a sizable lead until Kendall Jones nailed a three pointer to give the Royals 14-8 lead with 12:26 remaining in the first half. Queens lead jumped out to double digits, 23-13, following a Jared Hendrix layup with 5:40 remaining in the half. Lewis scored the last two points for the Royals in the half as his two free throws gave Queens 35-21 lead at halftime.
 
The second half would get very interesting as the Royals lead would get sliced to single digits following two made free throws by Coker's Jake Barrett with 14:54 remaining in the quarter, making the score 42-34. Barret's free throws sparked a 10-0 that would eventually cut the Royals lead down to 42-39 with 13:24 remaining in the quarter. Queens continued to battle, but they would give up the lead for the first time since the early minutes of the game, as Jalal Abdul-Azeez would swish a three-pointer to give Coker a 50-48 lead. The Royals would then turn on the heat and go on a 14-5 run that ended with a Marquis Rankin layup to give the Royals a seven point, 62-55 lead with 6:18 remaining in the game. Coker had a run of their own up their sleeves as they went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 64-64 with four minutes left to play. Morgan scored back-to-back layups and Jones drained a corner three with less than a minute left to seal the75-67 victory for the Royals to keep their unbeaten streak alive.
 
Jake Barrett led the Cobras in scoring as he added 18 points in the game. Trey Marshall and Jalal Abdul-Azeez also scored in double digits for Coker as they added 14 and 10 on the night. Jalen Watson led the team in rebounding as he gathered 10 in the game.
 
The Royals get back on the court on Saturday, December 12th, as they match up against conference opponent Carson-Newman at 4:00 p.m. in the Levine Center.