Final Stats

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) spent the first half of Monday's home contest with Morgan State fighting and clawing to stay close to a Bears squad that found its shooting touch early and got out to a double-digit lead in the first half.

But in the second half it was the Hawks (4-14, 1-2 MEAC) who found what they needed to stop a four-game losing skid.

"It feels really good," head coach Bobby Collins said. "This time of year you want to win some games and you want to learn along the way. We just had to learn how to win."

Devin Martin (Baltimore, Maryland) scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half - including eight of the team's final 10 points - to go along with six rebounds and three assists. Senior co-captain Dominique Elliott (Savannah, Georgia) had 14 points six rebounds and four assists.

"We got a great defensive stop and we made some big plays down the stretch and Dominique Elliott played like man rebounding and making big baskets," Collins said. "In situations like this, your best player has to make the best plays and Devin Martin made great plays."

The Bears (3-13, 1-2 MEAC) took a 13-10 lead with 15:55 to go in the first half and maintained the lead into the break. Morgan State pushed the lead out to 10, 36-26 with 4:56 to go in the first, but the Hawks weren't ready to give up.

Still trailing 42-32 with just two minutes to go before the break, the Hawks got a pair of free throw from Shane Randall (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and a layup by Derrico Peck (Atlanta, Georgia) to cut the Morgan lead to a more manageable 42-36 at the break.

"I'm just proud of the guys just the way we fought and gave ourselves a chance to win," Collins said. "We could have easily quit when we got down 10. We were a little flat and they had just taken it to us. We kind of got back in it and the offense really helped us out tonight."

Bakari Copeland (Decatur, Georgia) chipped in 11 points and Ryan Andino (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) had nine.

UMES will next hit the road for a contest at Savannah State (5-8, 1-1 MEAC) on Jan. 16 and then at South Carolina State (7-10, 2-1 MEAC) on Jan. 18.

All games can be heard locally on Fox Sports Radio 960 AM WTGM or on www.umeshawks.com. Brendan Gulick will have the call down south on the Hawks Sports Radio Network.