PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team had their highest scoring second half of the season on Monday night (Feb. 17) to defeat the Florida A&M University Rattlers 81-71.

After being tied at 31 at halftime, the Hawks (5-21, 4-7 MEAC) outscored Florida A&M by 10 in the second half to secure their second straight win. This was the first time this season that Eastern Shore won consecutive games.

The Shore was without three guys from their rotation on Monday. Junior Ty Gibson (Brooklyn, New York) has not returned from injury and has missed the last four games. Senior Bryan Urrutia (Chihuahua, Mexico) and redshirt junior Marlon Adams (Brooklyn, New York) were both out due to illness.

"I am proud of our guys for being relentless and showing great toughness to get this win tonight," head coach Jason Crafton said. "We were shorthanded but so many guys stepped up so this was an overall great team effort."

FAMU held a 34-33 lead after two and a half minutes were played in the second half. Senior AJ Cheeseman (Snellville, Georgia) made a layup at the 17:15 mark to give the Hawks the lead. They would not trail anymore in the game.

With 4:47 left, Florida A&M made a layup to close the score to 65-58. Maryland Eastern Shore would respond with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes that was fueled by back-to-back threes from junior Canaan Bartley (Miami, Florida).

The Rattlers would outscore the Hawks 9-1 after that to get within eight at 75-67 with just over a minute left to play. However, Eastern Shore would make six straight free throws down the stretch to get the win.

Four players were in double figures for the second straight game for Maryland Eastern Shore. Freshman Da'Shawn Phillip (Baltimore, Maryland) finished with a team-high 14 points. His classmate Glen Anderson (Harlem, New York) scored his career-high 13 points, while Cheeseman had 12 and Bartley finished with 11.

Florida A&M had two players in double figures. Rod Melton had a game-high 24 points and MJ Randolph scored 21.

The Shore will now travel to the state of North Carolina to face two of the top teams in the MEAC. The Hawks take on North Carolina Central on Saturday (Feb. 22) and North Carolina A&T on Monday (Feb. 24). Eastern Shore fell to both teams in January inside the Hytche Center.

"The focus is always going to remain on us as we get better and try to stay on a trajectory of improvement," Crafton said. "We know we have two really good opponents coming up so we want to continue to improve this week to give ourselves the best chance to go to North Carolina and have success."

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