BLACKSBURG, Virginia — In the University of Maryland Eastern Shore's last Division I game before conference play, the Hawks fell to the tenth ranked Virginia Tech Hokies 85-40 on Friday night (Dec. 28).

"We have played other ACC opponents earlier this season, so we have been in this type of environment where teams are bigger," head coach Clifford Reed said. "I was just hoping we would react better but hopefully we can keep improving."

Virginia Tech got their offense rolling early and often as they connected on 11 of their 14 made 3-pointers in the first half. The Hokies also had strong ball movement throughout as they had 22 assists on 29 made field goals.

The Hawks struggled offensively as they shot 29.5 percent from the field for the game. Eastern Shore also was not able to force many turnovers against the Hokies as they had only two steals for the game as a team.

"There a lot of little things that we are not doing well right now," Reed said. "We have to pick up our intensity and compete and that will help us execute better.

"We have to get in the gym and work on our execution and that will help with our defense because taking better shots will help us have good rotations on defense in transition."

Redshirt junior Dontae Caldwell (Santa Ana, CA) was the Hawks leading scorer in the game with 10 points. He was the only player for the Shore that reached double figures in the game.

Point guard Bryan Urrutia (Chihuahua, Mexico) looks to be gaining his footing back following an injury a few weeks ago. Urrutia finished the game with seven points, five rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers. His backcourt mate Canaan Bartley (Miami, FL) led the Hawks in rebounding with eight.

VT had only eight players available on Friday and they were able to get four of them in double figures. Ahmed Hill led the Hokies with 20 points including six from behind the arc.

Eastern Shore will be back in action on Monday afternoon (Dec. 31) against Division II opponent Chestnut Hill College. Tip will be at 1 p.m. Following that game, the Hawks will open conference play at Morgan State on Jan. 5.