ORANGEBURG, South Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team was defeated 68-53 on Monday evening (Jan. 20) by the South Carolina State University Bulldogs.

"This game was a hard fought battle that I think South Carolina State brought a little more toughness to than we did," head coach Jason Crafton said. "They were tougher when it came to getting the 50/50 balls and we did not do a good job on the glass for the second straight game so we have to respond to that in our next game."

The Hawks (2-18, 1-4 MEAC) dealt with major foul trouble in the opening half. Redshirt sophomore Walter Prevost (Houston, Texas) had three fouls and senior AJ Cheeseman (Snellville, Georgia) along with junior Canaan Bartley (Miami, Florida) each had two. That led to SC State shooting 12 free throws in the first 20 minutes while Eastern Shore shot none.

The Shore trailed by two as the score stood at 23-21 with 6:50 left in the first half following a jumper from freshman Kevon Voyles (Berlin, Maryland). S.C. State responded by ending the first half outscoring the Hawks 17-4 to take a 40-25 lead into the locker room.

In the second half the two teams each scored 28 points. The Bulldogs would get their lead up to 21 at one point before Maryland Eastern Shore would close the gap again. Cheeseman responded from his early foul trouble and score all 11 of his points after halftime.

Bartley led all scorers in the game with 13 points including three shots from behind the arc. SCSU had four players in double figures as Ian Kinard had 12 points to lead the Bulldogs in scoring.

Eastern Shore will be back in action at home on Jan. 27 against Morgan State at 7:30 p.m.

For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/.