Dec. 27, 2003
Box Score
Princess Anne, MD - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) (0-4) opened their 2003-2004 home stand today with a team they had never faced. The Vikings of Portland State University (PSU) (5-6) came into Princess Anne for the first meeting between the two teams and walked away with an 80-61 win. The win was the first in 22 straight road games for the Vikings who were coming off a 79-63 loss at Cal-State Northridge on Monday. For PSU Head Coach Heath Schroyer it was a home coming of sorts as he is a Baltimore native and played high school for legendary coach Morgan Wooten.
Despite the loss the Hawks saw some glimpses of brilliance as Tim Parham, a junior college transfer from Illinois, netted 20 points while grabbing four rebounds. Senior Tee Trotter who scored 11 and last season's MEAC all-rookie team member Aaron Wellington who added 13 aided him. The Hawks had those three in double figures but could not match Portland State as six players were in double digits for them.
UMES took care of the ball, committing only six turnovers to PSU's 11 but got out-rebounded 39-31. The difference was Portland State's hot shooting. The Hawks were good on defense but with hands in their face the Vikings shot 56 % for the game and when they missed they were fouled and went to the line and shot 81%.
The game was back and forth for the first 11 minutes but the Vikings put the lead to six at the 9:04 mark on a slam-dunk by Seamus Boxley. From there they ran the lead to 17 on the hot shooting of Sheu Oduniyi who was a perfect three for three from behind the arc and five for five from the floor. It continued the second half as PSU ran the lead to 21as Marshal Hartman knocked in a three with 18:58 on the clock. That was his only three, but, like Oduniyi, he was also five for five from the floor. The Vikings pushed the lead out to as many as 27. The Hawks made a late run with Parham, Wellington, and Lawrence Smith leading the way. Smith got a steal and converted it for a lay-in with 1:30 to play to cut the lead to 20. Wellington knocked in a late three-pointer at the 44 second mark to cut it to 17 but Nguye Kaladokubo put in a lay-up to end the game at a 19 point margin.
"We came out a little flat tonight and got beat on defense. Their hot shooting hurt us and we had to do more to close passing lanes and get turnovers. We didn't do enough and they capitalized. We will have to regroup and get ready for Towson, we beat them here two seasons ago so we will have to repeat our success," Head Coach Thomas Trotter said.
The Hawks will try to just that as they host the Tigers at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, December 30th in the Hytche Center. All kids grades K-8th can get in free and are encouraged to come out.
