The Morgan State men?s basketball team appeared well on its way to losing Monday night against North Carolina A&T.
Leading 31-29 at halftime, North Carolina A&T scored seven straight points to begin the second half. Morgan State senior forward Ronald Timus saw the game slipping away and knew he had to do something about it.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Timus responded with a dunk that kicked off a 19-2 run and led to a 69-62 Bears? victory against their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival. Timus, a Washington, D.C., native, finished with 19 points. He leads the Bears in scoring at 14.2 points per game.
“I knew if we wanted to win this game, I had to pick up my energy in the second half,” Timus said.
While Timus is happy with his role at Morgan State now, that wasn?t always the case.
He didn?t play at all last season after a falling out with former coach Butch Beard. But Timus kept himself in shape with the intention of transferring last fall.
“We just had philosophical differences,” Timus said. “He was a good coach, but he was an old-school, my-way-or-the-highway coach. It just wasn?t the right fit for me. Last year was a work year for me. Even though I sat out, I knew I would get back into the college game. So I worked on my perimeter game and kept up with my conditioning.”
Morgan State fired Beard after last season before hiring Todd Bozeman in April. Then, the school?s women?s basketball coach, Donald Beasley, convinced Timus to talk with Bozeman before transferring.
“Coach Bozeman is connected with some of my AAU coaches and my family and they let me know he was a good dude,” Timus said. “So instead of going with a stranger, I decided to put my trust in him.”
For Bozeman, who grew up in Forestville, having Timus on the roster was critical as he works toward making the Bears (6-11, 4-3 MEAC) a contender in the league.
“His energy level is always huge,” Bozeman said of Timus. “… He?s had a habit of taking plays off during the game. The energy level is great, but if you take a play off and that play hurts us, it almost counteracts that energy. But because he has that experience, because he plays hard, he has the energy level and he knows the conference ? all of that is something I?m really counting on.”
Timus time
» Ronald Timus scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half in Monday?s 69-62 win against North Carolina A&T.
» He scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting while playing 38 minutes in Morgan State?s 97-84 loss at American University on Nov. 14.
» Timus leads the Bears in scoring at 14.2 points per game.
» He averaged 24.6 points and 11 rebounds as a senior at Woodrow Wilson (D.C.) High.
