After a 59-7 loss last week against Georgia Southern, the Morgan State Bears (0-1) faced the Towson Tigers seeking its first victory this season.

However, the Bears lost the game 29-21 after leading by one at halftime.

The Bears started off with the ground game. Running back Alfonzo Graham had two big runs for 16 yards and 12 yards for first downs along with quarterback Carson Baker with a 9-yard gain.

After a few more runs and an incompletion, the Tigers recovered a sack-fumble that was overturned by a holding penalty.

The Bears then scored the first touchdown of the game from Graham’s 16-yard rushing touchdown to the house.

Towson followed with a field goal to end the first quarter down 7-3. Morgan finished the quarter with 97 total yards rushing.

In the second quarter, Towson went on a 10-0 run to go up 13-7 before Morgan took the lead with a late touchdown. The Bears led the game 14-13 by halftime.

For the last half of the game, Towson outscored Morgan 16-7. Tigers quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome finished the game with a 56 passing percentage, 157 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.

Pigrome was also the Tiger’s rushing leader with 124 yards from 19 carries. Towson out gained the Bears 230-150 running the ball.

On the Bears end, quarterback Carson Baker finished the game with a 42 passing percentage, 157 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Graham finished the game with 89 yards with 17 carries rushing.

With the win, Towson increased its lead to 21-6 all-time in the Battle for Greater Baltimore series versus Morgan.

Morgan, now 0-2, looks to seek its first victory of the season next week at home against Sacred Heart at Hughes Memorial Stadium on Sept. 17 at 12 p.m.

Here are the top five takeaways from Morgan’s loss against Towson University.

Trouble stopping the run

Morgan allowed Towson to rush for a total of 230 yards combined, 124 of those yards belonging to QB Tyrrell Pigrome.

Morgan had a tough time stopping Towson’s running game early. Besides Pigrome’s 124-yard rushing day, the rest of the team had 106 yards combined rushing.

Not many Third-Down and Fourth-Down Stops

Towson went 7-13 on third down and 2-2 on fourth down. Third downs are one of the most important downs in the game. Completing them helps a team extend drives on the field.

Morgan however went 5-11 on third down and 0-3 on fourth down.

Towson took advantage of those completions and made Morgan pay the price by coming out with points on most of their drives.

Struggle in the passing game

Morgan struggled early on with passing the ball. Baker started 0-6 in the first quarter. He did not complete his first pass until late in the second quarter of the game.

Baker finished the game with 10 completions out of 24 passing attempts and ended up throwing two passing touchdowns.

Alfonzo Graham has another huge rushing day

After his 106-yard rushing game against Georgia Southern last week, Graham continued to have a successful rushing day against Towson.

He led Morgan in rushing for the second straight week with 89 yards and had 18 yards receiving with one touchdown, totaling 107 yards combined.

Graham is showing promise to the Bears running game. He will be major in offense this season and should continue to be utilized throughout the season.

Running the ball will help Morgan succeed

Morgan is averaging 161 yards after two games this season (172 yards in the first game and 150 in the second game).

If Morgan continues to run the ball well, they will have better time of possession in their games and be able to manage the clock.