Coppin Center

Branden Doughty scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds to lead Coppin State to a 72-61 victory over Washington Adventist (1-1) on Thursday night. Eddie Hayden added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles (3-1), who played their final game at the Coppin Center. They will move into the Physical Education Complex on Dec. 5. Washington Adventist is the former Columbia Union. More men's basketball: Reggie Holmes scored a career-high 30 points and Morgan State earned a 72-61 victory against visiting East Tennessee State (1-2)

College recruiting Melvin going to UConn; Towson gets Calvert Hall's Lee Former Lake Clifton standout Cleveland Melvin committed to Connecticut on Thursday, picking the Huskies over DePaul, Memphis, Seton Hall and South Florida. "When I go to school next year, it's going to be exciting," said Melvin, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward. "Jim Calhoun is a great coach. He's put a lot of NBA players into the league. Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon, Josh Boone, all of them had great impacts on their teams."

The gym is small, the crowds subdued. About half the seats are filled each game. And the place is nearly bare of banners trumpeting the basketball success at Coppin State College.Daunting, the Coppin Center is not. It seats 3,000. There are college arenas 10 times its size and high school gyms with more pizazz. Not that Coppin's players seem to care. The Eagles have won 31 straight games at home, a streak that leads the nation.It has been three years since Coppin slipped on its own floor, and the Eagles have mopped up ever since.

Branden Doughty scored 15 points and had 14 rebounds to lead Coppin State to a 72-61 victory over Washington Adventist (1-1) on Thursday night. Eddie Hayden added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles (3-1), who played their final game at the Coppin Center. They will move into the Physical Education Complex on Dec. 5. Washington Adventist is the former Columbia Union. More men's basketball: Reggie Holmes scored a career-high 30 points and Morgan State earned a 72-61 victory against visiting East Tennessee State (1-2)

Coppin State vs. Morgan State Site: Coppin Center, Baltimore Time: 7:30 p.m. Maryland vs. Virginia Tech Site: Cassell Coliseum, Blacksburg, Va. Time: 4 p.m. TV/Radio: Ch. 54/WBAL (1090 AM) Line: Maryland by 3

Running Towson Turkey Run Where -- Burdick Field, Towson University When -- Tomorrow, 8:30 a.m. What for -- Fundraiser for Alex's Lemonade Stand Online -- wwwnew.towson.edu/ campusrec/ news-turkey%20run.html Basketball Youngstown State women @Coppin State Where -- Coppin Center When -- Tonight, 6 p.m. What for -- Defending MEAC champion and NCAA tournament qualifier opens home schedule Online -- www.coppin.edu/athletics

Aquenda Clark scored 19 points and Shantell Jackson added 13 to power Florida A&M past Coppin State, 71-55, in women's college basketball last night before 842 at the Coppin Center.Celena Falline and Liani Adair scored 15 points each for Coppin State (2-3). The Eagles shot 14 percent from the field in the first half as Florida A&M took a 34-22 lead. The Rattlers (4-3) shot 50 percent in the first half and 42.9 percent in the second half.Pub Date: 12/17/97

The Coppin State basketball community was saddened yesterday by the death of Yvonne Mitchell, the wife of longtime basketball coach and athletic director Fang Mitchell. Yvonne Mitchell, 56, was hospitalized Wednesday night after suffering chest pains. Doctors determined she suffered an aneurysm of the aorta, which led to heart failure shortly after midnight. She had just dropped off a set of car keys for her husband at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Coppin State, one hour before she went to the hospital.

Liesha Mitchell scored 31 points and made nine steals to lift Coppin State to an 85-84 overtime victory over Howard yesterday in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game at the Coppin Center.The Eagles (3-4, 2-0), who shot 41 percent from the field, hit five of their nine field-goal attempts in overtime.The Bison (4-6, 1-1) committed 25 turnovers and were 13 of 27 from the foul line, going 3-for-6 in overtime.Kiesha Brooks had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Javonti Jones added 10 points for Coppin.

Mona Gail Baker had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead Howard past Coppin State, 74-67, in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference women's college basketball at the Coppin Center. With the score tied at nine with 12 minutes left in the first half, Howard (3-7, 1-0 MEAC) went on a 25-9 run over the next 10 minutes to take control of the game. The Bison led 41-24 at the break after shooting 56 percent from the field in the first half, holding Coppin State to 26 percent shooting. In the second half, Coppin (5-9, 3-2 MEAC)

Former Lake Clifton standout Cleveland Melvin committed to Connecticut on Thursday, picking the Huskies over DePaul, Memphis, Seton Hall and South Florida. "When I go to school next year, it's going to be exciting," said Melvin, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound forward. " Jim Calhoun is a great coach. He's put a lot of NBA players into the league. Rudy Gay , Ben Gordon , Josh Boone , all of them had great impacts on their teams." Melvin, a Baltimore Sun first-team All-Metro selection last spring, averaged 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks per game as a senior, helping the Lakers to the Class 3A state championship.

The last basketball game in its current on-campus arena is now in Coppin State's rearview mirror. Ahead is this week's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, but looming ever closer on the horizon is a bright, sunny vision of the future. Literally bright and sunny. What excites the Coppin folks most about the new arena rising along Gwynns Falls Parkway? "Windows," said men's assistant coach and former player Larry Tucker. It's a fairly standard amenity, one that the coaching offices in Coppin Center don't have.

DIVISION I WOMEN COPPIN STATE Coach: Derek Brown, ninth season at Coppin State (156-106) 2007-08 record: 22-12 (13-3, second place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) Arena: Coppin Center (1,720) Consensus MEAC favorite: North Carolina A&T Starters lost: Two Outlook: The Eagles finished second in the regular season and won the conference tournament, 72-70, over North Carolina A&T. Coppin State then advanced to its fourth consecutive postseason appearance, where it lost to Maryland, 80-66, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Coppin State Coach: Fang Mitchell, 23rd season at Coppin State, 358-302 2007-08 record: 16-21 (7-9 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) Arena: Coppin Center (1,720) Consensus MEAC favorite: Morgan State Consensus Coppin State prediction: Sixth Starters lost: Four Outlook: The Eagles will defend their conference tournament title by building around MEAC Preseason Player of the Year Tywain McKee (16.6 ppg) but are in a rebuilding phase. They will have to rely on 6-foot-9 transfer Rigoberto Sargeant (Canisius)

Julian Conyers and Mike Miller, both seniors, scored 14 points apiece as Coppin State won its home finale, 68-45, over Howard last night for its seventh consecutive victory. It's the Eagles' longest winning streak since the 1998-99 season. Tywain McKee, also a senior, added 12 points for Coppin (11-19, 6-8 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference). Miller's 14 points were a career high. Conyers went 5-for-7 from the field, including 2-for-3 on three-pointers, for Coppin (11-19, 6-8 Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference)

The rout was over, and the race was on between Kyle Locke and Allen Watson.After an 87-54 pounding of Howard last night that marked the final home game for Coppin State's only seniors, they --ed to the center circle, knelt and kissed the Eagle logo. It was a tribute to a 41-game win streak at the Coppin Center, a fourth straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular-season title and the hours that they've invested in those accomplishments.Watson, the point guard otherwise known as "Smooth," was academically ineligible as a freshman, and went 31-0 at the Coppin Center.