Feb. 4, 2009
Box Score
FARMVILLE, Va. - Four University of Maryland Eastern Shore players scored double figures led by Chris Conner's (Powell, Tenn.) game-high 24, but the Hawks fell to Longwood, 98-86, at Willett Hall Wednesday.
Marc Davis (Baltimore, Md.), Neal Pitt (Fort Washington, Md.) and Gary Lee (Flint Mich.) tallied 15, 13 and 10 points, respectively, for UMES (6-15) which dropped its first road game in three outings despite shooting a season-high 52.3 percent.
Longwood (12-10), which won its fifth straight, was also hot from the floor on the night, shooting 33-of-63 for 52.4 percent. The Lancers swept the season series, 2-0, with the win and a 61-49 victory at the Hytche Center on Nov. 22.
"Our defense was not very good at all, we gave up too many points on easy baskets in transition, didn't defend the basic plays," said UMES head coach Frankie Allen. "I'm just really disappointed because we've always prided ourselves on being a strong defensive team.
"Longwood forced us to play at their tempo and we don't play very well when we have to go up and down, but when we fell behind, we were forced into that type of game," Allen added.
Five Lancers tallied double digits as Kevin Swecker was 5-of-7 from 3-point range on his way to 23 points and six rebounds. Billy Robinson, Jr. had 19, while Ryan Bogan (13 points, six boards), Durann Neil (12 points, six assists) and Antwan Carter (10 points, seven boards) also had solid games for LU.
Longwood opened the game on an 11-1 run as Neil, Swecker and Bogan each hit 3-pointers in the first two-and-a-half minutes.
The Hawks answered with a 20-11 stretch to move to within a bucket at 23-21 with 11:10 remaining in the first half.
Carter, Martiz Washington and Swecker then poured in seven unanswered in a minute to push it to a 30-21 advantage at the midway point of the half. The Lancers earned their first double-digit lead of the game with 7:07 to play at 37-27.
The Hawks closed the gap to 37-31 on four free throws by Keishawn Mayes (Warrenton, N.C.) and Davis. The Hawks stayed in the game in the first half from the free-throw line. UMES shot 23-for-27 from the stripe and were led by Davis. He was 11-of-12.
Longwood led at the half, 55-38.
The Lancers turned 13 first-half miscues into 25 points and shot 60.6 percent from the field and 50 percent from three in the opening 20 minutes.
Longwood led by as many as 23 in the second half with 16:31 to go when Swecker hit another three for a 66-43 advantage.
Jaime Boyer (Philadelphia, Pa.) swiped the ball from Bogan and converted a three-point play with a fastbreak layup and a foul shot with 10:32 remaining to shrink the lead to 77-63.
An 82-64 game with 9:31 to play, UMES put up nine straight points to cut the lead to single digits with 7:54 left on a Conner three.
That was as close as the Hawks got, though, as they were outscored, 16-13, in the game's final minutes.
In all, Longwood had 42 points off turnovers to just 14 for UMES who committed 22 on the night compared to 11 for the hosts. The Hawks were 16-for-28 in the second (57.1 percent) from the field, 5-of-10 from beyond the arc and 77.8 percent from the line.
UMES won the rebounding battle. 33-29.
The Hawks are back in action Feb. 7 at Howard at 4 p.m.
