Dec. 30, 2003

Box Score

Princess Anne, MD - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) (0-5) dropped a heartbreaker to the in-state rival Towson University Tigers (3-6) by a 61-53 margin. The hot shooting of the Tigers and Andrius Petkunas, who came off the bench to score 13, sparked the Tiger's win.

Sophomore Aaron Wellington had another big day with 18 points, three rebounds, and two steals. Tee Trotter who netted 15 points for the Hawks accompanied him in the double-digit scoring column. Sophomore Tim Parham, coming off of a 20 point game against Portland State got in foul trouble early and could only muster eight points in 23 minutes of play.

The Hawks led early by as many as five points. Trotter started the scoring on a lay-in where he was fouled and sank the free throw. Wellington followed it up with two big three-pointers and Parham got a couple tough lay-ins early. Tony Dixon, Lawrence Hamm and Jamaal Gilchrist all scored for the Tigers to keep it close. The game was back and forth and was a one point Towson lead with one second left when Trevan Jackson sank a three in the corner to give the Tigers a 24-20 lead at the break.

Towson had a lead as big as nine in the second half despite the strong defensive play of Jareem Dowling and Antoine Joiner for the Hawks. UMES forced many shot clocks to run down but it seemed just when they had succeeded Towson would make tough shots to extend their lead. The most exciting play for the Hawks came at the 11:19 mark when a missed Trotter lay-up would be followed by a Joiner tip-dunk to push momentum back to the Hawks. The lead was three but a Hamm lay-in as the shot-clock expired pushed it back to five. At the 4:08 mark UMES would cut the lead back to three after trailing again by eight. The Parham steal and Trotter lay-in, accompanied by a free throw gave the Hawks more momentum but it was again cut down by Hamm who scored at the other end. A Wellington three-pointer cut the lead to six with 20 seconds to play, but the Hawks were forced to foul and fell by an eight-point margin, 61-53.

Towson had three in double figures with Hamm scoring ten, Jackson 12, and Petkunas leading the Tigers with 13.

UMES prepares for their conference opener on Saturday, January 3 when the play host to Delaware State at 4:00 pm. They follow the Lady Hawks who tip at 2:00 pm. That game is part of the elementary and middle school promotion night when all kids, ages K-8th grade are admitted free with a paying adult.