Feb. 26, 2005
Box Score
BALTIMORE, MD - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Fighting Hawks fell behind early to the Coppin State Eagles Saturday evening and could not rebound, losing their contest to the conference leaders, 100-53. The win keeps Coppin (13-13, 13-4 MEAC) a half game ahead of Hampton for first in the conference, while UMES (2-24, 1-16 MEAC) drops their fifth straight behind strong play off the bench from freshman Louis Brookins (Silver Spring, MD/Springbrook HS).
Nicholas King paced the Eagles in the opening minutes, hitting back to back treys as Coppin enjoyed an early 17-0 run in the first four minutes of the game. The Eagle lead grew to 24, a 35-9 advantage, midway through the first half. Coppin continued to roll, never relinquishing the lead to go up 32 points at the break, 58-26. The Eagles shot 64% from the field compared to just 30% from the Hawks.
Corey Brown (Ruthville, VA/Mott CC) connected on three baskets early in the second half to cut into the Coppin lead with 17 minutes remaining, but the Eagles pushed the advantage to 47 points, their highest of the night, at 14:09.
Brookins, playing for the first time in four games, saw most of his action in the second half when fouls began to plague the Hawks. With three of the UMES starters out with foul trouble, Brookins took advantage of the playing time to score eight points, including a jumper with 12 minutes remaining to cut the lead down to 43.
UMES had a little momentum in the final minutes from Tal Cohen (Hadera, Israel/Tichon Hadera HS) and Tim Parham (Chicago, IL/Ellsworth CC). Cohen hit a fast break lay-up at 6:08 to help the Hawks to a 5-0 run and a Parham tip-in at 4:40 got UMES within 38, but the lead grew back into the 40's in the final two minutes of the game as Coppin went up 98-53 at the 1:46 mark.
Enrico McLeary and Mike Creppy each hit one of two from the charity stripe to put the Eagles at the 100 point plateau as time expired, and Coppin took home an easy homecoming victory over the Hawks, 100-53.
UMES was led by Brown's 10 points while Parham finished with nine points and eight rebounds. Brookins added eight points in 18 minutes. King led four Eagles in double figures, scoring a game high 19 points on 7-14 shooting from the field.
The Fighting Hawks will play their final game of the season at Morgan State on Monday, February 28. Tip off at Hill Field House is slated for 7:30pm.
