Dec. 13, 2008
Box Score
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Three Hawks scored in double figures, including a game-high 20 points from junior Neal Pitt (Fort Washington, Md.), but the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team fell to St. Bonaventure, 75-60, Saturday in front of 3,123 at the Reilly Center.
Pitt also collected 11 rebounds for his second double-double of season for UMES, which dropped to 1-6 on the season with the loss. St. Bonaventure earned its second two-game winning streak of the year with the victory and improved to 5-3.
Freshman Keishawn Mayes (Warrenton, N.C.) had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Hawks and classmate Chris Conner (Powell, Tenn.) tallied 11 points, two rebounds and one steal off the bench.
The Bonnies also had three players with 10 or more and were led by Chris Matthews with 16 points and seven boards.
"The effort was great for the most part," said UMES head coach Frankie Allen. "We had some mental lapses, [but] we played an even second half and I saw some really positive things. We played some different lineups out there, but I saw some things that made me feel really encouraged."
The Hawks never led in the game, but were able to keep St. Bonaventure within striking distance throughout the first half and much of the second.
The Bonnies scored nine of the game's first 11 points to take a 9-2 lead with less than two-and-a-half minutes gone. UMES, though, went on a 6-1 run capped by a fast-break layup from Pitt with 15:18 left to cut it to one-possession game at 10-8.
With 8:58 to play in the half and the Hawks down nine, Marc Davis (Baltimore, Md.) hit a three to make it a 21-15 game. After a Maurice Thomas bucket, UMES had the next five points with Pitt draining a jumper and Tyler Hines (Sicklerville, N.J.) and Mayes knocking down 3-of-4 free throws to get within three with 7:32 remaining in the half.
That was as close as the Hawks got the rest of the way as the St. Bonaventure carried a 15-point lead into the break.
The Bonnies got 14 points off of turnovers in the opening 20 minutes to go along with 19 from their bench to open the advantage.
SBU seemed to be cruising to victory up, 60-40, midway through the second, but the Hawks refused to go away. UMES scored nine straight points, with contributions from Pitt, Mayes and senior Aleksandar Popovic (Novi Sad, Serbia), which brought the lead to 11 with just over 8 minutes to play, but it was too little too late.
"Our kids really battled to the end. All in all, it's a learning process ... we're getting better," said Allen.
Jonathan Hall (13 points, seven rebounds) and Ray Blackburn (11 points, three assists) had strong games for the Bonnies, who outshot UMES. St. Bonaventure was 49.1 percent from the floor for the game and as the Hawks shot 37.1 percent.
The Hawks were outrebounded (41-40) for just the second time this year in the loss, but won the turnover battle, 15-14.
Hines finished with eight points and eight rebounds for UMES. Popovic, in his most minutes this season (30) had four points and seven boards.
Allen was impressed with Popovic, one of only three seniors on the squad.
"He had some blocked shots and he was kind of an anchor in the middle. He took a charge, he's big and he forced them to have to shoot over him and so ... it was his presence in there that helped Neal and Keishawn a bit."
UMES is back in action Dec. 22 at Old Dominion at 7 p.m.
