The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) continued to play hot at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center Saturday (Jan. 23) making several key plays down the stretch to top Bethune Cookman 74-72.

"Today we beat a very good basketball team on our home court," Hawks head coach Bobby Collins said. "And we definitely needed our home floor to get that win today."

Four of the Hawks' five wins this season have come at the Hytche Center - where the team is team is 4-1.
"It means the world to us to have our fans here cheering," Collins said. "They definitely had a major role in our success today - the way they cheered and they way they were interacting. Our guys fed off of that and I thought we really dug down and fought."

UMES (5-16, 2-4 MEAC) got another double-double from Dominique Elliott (18 points, 10 rebounds) and senior co-captain Devin Martin chipped in 11 points.

"Devin and Dom did what stars are supposed to do," Collins said. "I'm just pleased and proud we came out and won this game today."

Martin scored below his average (17 ppg.) against the Wildcats, but was right in the thick of things in crunch time scoring the team's final basket of the game and drawing a key charge on the defensive end.
A pair of free throw by Bethune's Diamante Lewis tied the game for the eighth time at 72-72 with just 50 seconds remaining. But Martin's spin move and jumper at the top of the lane gave the Hawks a 74-72 advantage.

The Wildcats (6-14, 3-3 MEAC) would get one more shot at stealing the outcome, but a last second 3 came up short.

Bakari Copeland and Derrico Peck scored 10 points apiece and combined for nine rebounds. Ahmad Frost scored eight points including a 3-pointer with 1:55 left in the game to put UMES up 72-67.

"Ahmad Frost stepped up and played big today," Collins said. "'Rico' Peck played big today."
The Hawks have 10 regular season games remaining. All are MId-Eastern Athletic Conference games and six of those are at home.

They will host Florida A&M on Monday (Jan. 25) at 7:30 or a half hour following the women's game.
All games can be heard locally on Fox Sports Radio 960 AM WTGM or on www.umeshawks.com. Brendan Gulick and David Byrd will have the call from the William P. Hytche Athletic Center on the Hawks Sports Radio Network.