PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team won their third straight game on Thursday night (March 7) against the Delaware State University Hornets 70-64.
"It feels really good to put together a win streak and play well at the end of the year," head coach Clifford Reed said. "We have really improved immensely and that is a credit to my staff and the players on their hard work."
The Hawks (7-24, 5-11 MEAC) utilized strong inside play to neutralize the Hornets all game. Maryland Eastern Shore outrebounded their Route 13 rival 41-27.
In the first half, both teams went on a big scoring run. With the Hawks leading 18-16 with 8:16 left before halftime, DSU would score the next nine points. The Shore would answer that by scoring 11 straight to grab a 29-25 lead. Both teams would score three more points and the Hawks would hold a 32-28 advantage at halftime.
Eastern Shore would begin to impose their will down low when the second half began. Redshirt junior Isaac Taylor (Wachapreague, VA) made three straight shots inside the paint in the first five minutes to get things going for the Hawks.
The Hornets would not go away quietly though as the tied the game at for a third time in the second half with a 3-pointer with 9:03 remaining. On their next possession they looked to gain the lead, but Taylor blocked an attempt from Pinky Wiley which ignited a fast break that ended with an alley-oop from Ahmad Frost (Cincinnati, OH) to Taylor. The contest would never be tied again.
The Hawks pushed their lead up to as many as 11 in the final nine minutes of the ballgame. Delaware State was able to make the game interesting down the stretch as they would close the gap to three points at 66-63 with 17 seconds remaining. However grad student Ryan Andino (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), who was playing his last home game in Princess Anne, went 4-4 from the free throw line to seal the game. He finished with seven points in his final game in the Hytche Center.
Eastern Shore was led by Taylor's first career double-double. He finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds. It was only the second double-double of the season for the Hawks as the other was done by Dontae Caldwell (Santa Ana, CA) at Duquesne on Dec. 13.
"It's always a blessing to achieve stats like that, but honestly I am more concerned with the win," Taylor said. "I see us progressing as a team from where we were early on this season and that is great for us."
Frost also had 17 points off the bench for the Hawks including five makes from three point range. Point guard Bryan Urrutia (Chihuahua, Mexico) finished with 12 points and seven assists. Junior Gabriel Gyamfi (Brampton, ON, Canada) had six points and 10 rebounds to help control the paint with Taylor.
DSU was led by Wiley's 18 points. Kevin Larkin finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds for the Hornets.
The Shore will now turn their sights to The Scope in Norfolk, VA for the MEAC Tournament. The Hawks will be the No. 8 seed and face the No. 9 seed South Carolina State Bulldogs on Tuesday (March 12) at 6 p.m. Eastern Shore was victorious in their first meeting on Feb. 2 by a score of 63-61. The winner of the game will play No. 1 seed Norfolk State on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.
