The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) came back in it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day contest with South Carolina State after trailing by six at the half. The Hawks took their first lead of the second half with 14:15 left in the game and held it as late as 58-57 with 2:08 to go.

But they failed to close the game out in the final minutes falling 68-63.

"It was a situation where the team that made the first mistake was going to lose unfortunately," Collins said. "We made a defensive mistake. I'm proud of our young men, the way we fought, because we could easily lay down. We have had some emotional losses."

This one was no different, as the Hawks (4-16, 1-4 MEAC) had a hard time reconciling their effort with the result afterward.

"We are doing what it takes to win games," Collins said. "I'm proud of the way we are getting the ball into Dom (Elliott). I'm proud of the way our guys are sacrificing and making the extra pass. We are doing a lot of great things and you can see our team growing."

Ahmad Frost (Cincinnati, Ohio) seemed to show some growth in the point guard role finishing with eight points and no turnovers in 21 minutes, but he also had just one assist.

Dominique Elliott (Savannah, Georgia) finished shy of a second straight double double with 19 points and 8 rebounds, while Devin Martin had 15 points and four rebounds.

Ryan Andino (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) scored eight off the bench.

South Carolina State (10-10, 5-1 MEAC) got 26 points from Eric Eaves and 10 from Daryl Palmer. But it was a 3-pointer and a layup by Ty Soloman, that loomed largest as they came in the final 1:27 of play and accounted for Soloman's only five points of the game.

"I know our team wants to see some wins, but it's a process," Collins said. "If we continue to play this hard every night then we are going to win some games. And it's still about winning those three games in March. We're hungry and we're desperate."

The Hawks now have 11 regular season games remaining. All are MId-Eastern Athletic Conference games and seven of those are at home.

Following the Martin Luther King Day matchup, the Hawks return home for a game against Bethune Cookman on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. That is 'Take a Kid to a Game Day' and all school age children receive free admission.

All games can be heard locally on Fox Sports Radio 960 AM WTGM or on www.umeshawks.com. Brendan Gulick will have the call from Smith-Hamilton-Middleton Memorial Center on the Hawks Sports Radio Network.