GREENVILLE, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team played a strong second half on Tuesday evening (Dec. 17) in their game with the East Carolina University Pirates, but the Hawks would ultimately drop the contest 71-57.
"I have similar feeling tonight that I had against Stanford (Nov. 19)," head coach Jason Crafton said. "We came out slow in the first half but came out with rejuvenated energy and execution after halftime."
The Hawks (1-11) could not get much going offensively in the first half. They scored 16 points while shooting 25% from the field in the first 20 minutes. The opening half also featured a seven minute scoreless streak from the 9:40 mark to the 2:20 mark that ended when freshman Da'Shawn Phillip (Baltimore, Maryland) hit a 3-pointer.
They responded in the second half by outscoring the Pirates 41-36. The Hawks fell behind by 20 with 14:58 left as the score stood at 43-23. The squad responded with a 10-2 run over the next two minutes. A layup from senior AJ Cheeseman (Snellville, Georgia) made the score 45-33 and forced an East Carolina timeout.
Cheeseman would get another bucket a minute later to bring the Hawks within 11, but the Pirates went on an 8-0 run after that to create some distance. The Shore got the deficit back down to 11 once again at 64-53 with 3:54 remaining but ECU would make four straight free throws to get their lead back to 15 and hold off the visitors to complete their victory.
The Hawks were led by Cheeseman's team-high 15 points. He played just 11 minutes in the game after missing the first half due to a coach's decision. The senior responded to missing the first half by pouring in his season high.
"We told Cheese to just play free minded and not stress himself out and he did that tonight," Crafton said. "He got to the action, grabbed rebounds, made plays and was a great teammate; that's what we need for him to do as a senior."
Redshirt sophomore Walter Prevost (Houston, Texas) finished with nine points and two blocks for the Hawks before fouling out, while Phillip and junior Ty Gibson (Brooklyn, New York) each had eight. The Pirates got double-doubles from two players. Jayden Gardner had 22 points and 13 rebounds and Brandon Suggs finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Eastern Shore will now stay in the state of North Carolina as they face Charlotte on Thursday (Dec. 19). Their final game before Christmas will be Sunday (Dec. 22) at Old Dominion.
"The exciting thing about this team is that I don't think we have played our best basketball yet," Crafton said. "We have seen glimpses and when we put it all together we will be excited about what we are able to do for 40 minutes."
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.
