ORANGEBURG, South Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is coming off a led down contest at Norfolk State that left head coach Fred Batchelor shaking his head at what he saw for the last 15 minutes of a 68-45 loss.

Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. Day matchup with South Carolina State (2-15, 1-3 MEAC) will be the team's first opportunity to rebound from that performance. IT will also be the team's next opportunity to get its first road victory of the season.

"We need 40 minutes of solid effort, toughness drive, emotional strength, physical strength and communication" Batchelor said. "That's what it is going to take for us to get our first road win of the season in late January. We are looking at being on the road in conference where we have to play against a team that is actually getting 10 points better because they are home and we have to play through that."

Eastern Shore got into Orangeburg Sunday afternoon after leaving Norfolk early and had the chance to get in a good practice in the evening. Batchelor liked what he saw out of his team on the practice court, but is waiting to see how they respond against the Bulldogs.

"They energy was good," he said. "The kids really came together. Sometimes they come together more when they are being challenged by the coaches. I like that. I like seeing them support each other and they encouraged each other even more yesterday. They were high energy and I think they were really focused. I'm expected them to come out and play well today. We have to play well through bad stretches and that a level of mental toughness and emotional toughness that we have to get through."

That didn't happen in Norfolk as the squad was tied with the Spartans 18-18 after on, trailed by 10 at the half, but then let the game get well out of reach quickly in the second half.

"I didn't think we played a bad first half," Batchelor said. "We were down 10 with them having 11 extra opportunities in the first half and to be down 10 was ok. But I thought in the third quarter we kind of hit a wall, struggled to score a little bit and Norfolk played well and I thought we kind of broke. I think that that is something that you learn with a young team — learning how to play through those types of adversities at times.

"Hopefully we didn't just lose the game. Hopefully we can learn from that experience and apply it against South Carolina State."