PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team dropped their second straight game in consecutive days in the City of Brotherly Love on Wednesday night (November 10) when they fell 72-49 to the Temple University Owls.
The Owls held a noticeable height advantage over the Hawks, which played a factor in the Hawks struggles from the field in the first half. The Shore shot 26.3% from the field and 25% from the 3-point line. However, the team did find a way to stay in the game thanks to a late spurt before halftime.
When play stopped for the under four minute media timeout, Eastern Shore was down 24-12. They would cut the lead to one in the next three minutes thanks to an 11-0 run. The points came courtesy of a jumper from junior Kevon Voyles and 3-pointers from juniors Dom London and Kohen Thompson as well as freshman Chace Davis.
Temple would answer and hit a jumper with 31 seconds on the clock. Maryland Eastern Shore would then hold for the last shot and got a successful alley-oop from London to Voyles to make the score 26-25 in favor of the Owls at the break.
"I liked the fight we showed at the end of the first half to give us the chance to be down just one," head coach Jason Crafton said. "We really executed and moved the basketball, but in the second half their size and athleticism was a little overwhelming."
Junior Da'Shawn Phillip got a three point play right out of the locker room to give Eastern Shore a 28-26 lead. Temple would answer with one of their own to retake the 29-28 lead. Senior Zion Styles would answer that with a layup off of an inbound play to put the Hawks back in front 30-29 with 17:01 on the clock.
The Shore would carry that slim advantage into the under 16:00 media timeout. Temple would outscore the Hawks 27-12 in the next four minutes to grab control of the contest. They would get their lead as high as 23 on two separate occasions as they scored 46 points in the second half to just 24 for Maryland Eastern Shore.
Phillip had 11 points for the Hawks to lead them in scoring. London did not have a great night offensively, but he did pull down six boards to lead the team in rebounds.
Maryland Eastern Shore will now head home to play their next to games inside the Hytche Center. The first will be Saturday (November 13) against Bryn Athyn. The next will be on November 17 versus Hood College. Saturday's game will serve as homecoming for the Hawks.
"I think guys will be excited to play at home," Crafton said. "It's always an exciting experience to engage with our fans and community while bringing basketball back, so we look forward to putting on a show for them."
