February 2, 2006 – ATLANTA – With the Maroon and White band jamming and the DJ pumping, the Maroon Tigers put on a good show for the packed house at Forbes Arena and a national TV audience on the way to an 87-73 win over Clark Atlanta.

Round one of the two-part war between cross-campus rivals was televised by ESPNU, the fledgling affiliate of ESPN. The two teams will square off again on February 18. That game will also be played at Forbes, but will be a home game for Clark Atlanta.

The game was close for most of the first half, until a thunderous dunk by Kwame Agbottah on a feed by Will Belton put Morehouse ahead for good. The Maroon Tigers increase a 34-28 halftime lead to as many as 16 in the second half, but a series of Maroon Tiger turnovers, missed shots and three-pointers by the Panthers closed the gap to 58-55. Consecutive three-pointers by Belton quelled the Panther rally to the delight of the Maroon Tigers’ faithful who packed the arena to the rafters.

Brandon Childs, Morehouse scoring leader and co-captain, poured it on in the second half, scoring 21 of his game-high and season-high 31 points. The senior guard from Conyers tied his career-high in scoring and pulled down six rebounds, handed out seven assists and collected two steals.

Continuing the superb play he has demonstrated all season, Childs was named SIAC Player of the Week for the past two weeks. He has upped his scoring average to 19.1 points-per-game and is the conference’s third leading scorer.
Belton threw in 18 points for his first double-digit scoring in four games. The team’s second leading scorer has seen limited action, as coach Grady Brewer has tinkered with the Morehouse lineup to come up with a winning formula. The junior guard from Fairburn, Ga. hit 6-of-12 shots, including four three-pointers and racked up three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Forward Jason Patterson had another all-around outstanding performance. The junior from Lithonia scored 10 points and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, to go with six assists and two blocked shots. As he often is called on to do, Patterson drew the tough defensive assignment to guard the opposition’s best scorer. As he often does, the team co-captain came through, holding the Panthers’ Derrick Allen to six points below his conference-leading scoring average.

Center James Beasley threw in 10 points and gathered in four rebounds, but more importantly the Morehouse 7-foot center neutralized Kobby Acquah, the Clark Atlanta 7-foot center, who leads the SIAC in blocked shots. Beasley drew three early fouls against Acquah and confined him to the bench for most of the first half.

Kelvin Brown paced the Panthers with 19 points and Allen chipped in 16 in a losing effort. CAU dropped to 3-16 (3-10 SIAC).

Morehouse improved to 11-8 (8-6 SIAC) and will travel to Albany on Monday to face the Golden Rams.