BETHLEHEM, Pennsylvania — In their fifth straight game on the road, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team overcame a halftime deficit to capture their third win of the season over the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks with an 81-75 victory on Saturday (December 4).
"I felt that we got a little irritated and fatigued in the first half from all the travel and we had some moments of frustration," head coach Jason Crafton said. "I was happy to see them come together in the second half and close the game out the right way versus a good Lehigh team."
In the first half, both teams made long scoring runs to fuel their offensive success. Following a jumper from freshman Chace Davis, the Hawks led 17-12 with 13:41 on the clock. The Mountain Hawks responded with an 11-0 run that was ended by a layup from senior Nathaniel Pollard, Jr. at the 8:16 mark.
Lehigh scored the next seven points to lead 30-19 with 6:15 remaining until halftime. The Shore then got back to back 3-pointers from juniors Da'Shawn Phillip and Kohen Thompson to force a LU timeout.
After the break, Eastern Shore kept the pressure on as junior Dom London made a layup which was followed by a 3-point play from Davis to tie the score at 30 with 3:40 on the clock. Nine seconds later, London got a steal and a layup to give the team a 32-30 lead. That bucket was the conclusion of 13 straight points for the squad.
The final minutes of the first half was a seesaw affair as the lead changed hands four times in that span. Lehigh held a 35-34 advantage on the scoreboard with just over two minutes on the clock, but the Hawks took the lead behind a monster dunk from senior Nathaniel Pollard, Jr.
His classmate Donchevell "Tuka" Nugent made a shot behind the arc with 1:37 on the clock to put the team up 39-35. The Mountain Hawks hit the last two buckets of the opening half, both from long distance, to take a 41-39 lead into the locker room.
After halftime, the Hawks got a quick scoring burst from junior Kevon Voyles. He had six points at halftime and his total jumped to 14 in the first five minutes of the second half. He was the catalyst of the team getting out to a 54-47 lead at the 14:41 mark.
The Shore eventually got up to their biggest lead of the game, nine points, when they were up 61-52 with 9:49 left. LU would close the gap to three with 4:40 left. Phillip would help stave off the Mountain Hawks rally with a huge dunk after splitting the defense to put the team up 69-64 with 3:52 left.
Lehigh made a 3-pointer and called a timeout with two minutes left in the game. Eastern Shore led 73-69 at that point. They would get the lead up to 75-69 with under a minute left to play, but LU would cut that lead in half with a 3-point play with 25 seconds left.
London knocked down two free throws after that to put the Hawks up 77-72. The Mountain Hawks inbounded the ball fast after the second make, but Thompson would get a steal and hand the ball off to Davis and he would get fouled. Davis calmly stepped to the stripe and hit two to make the score 79-72.
On the ensuing possession, Lehigh made a three to get within four at 79-75 with eight seconds remaining. They fouled Phillip on the next possession and he hit two free throws to ice the game and give Maryland Eastern Shore the victory.
The team had their best performance from the free throw line this season against Lehigh. The Hawks shot 17-20 (85%) from the line on Saturday. Their previous best was in their last win at Fordham on November 19.
"We felt that we could drive to the basket in this game because they didn't have a lot of rim protection," Crafton said. "We came out with a game goal to get 20 or more free throws, we got that and made 17 of them, so hopefully that puts us back at the top of the standings in free throw percentage (in the MEAC) after a drop off last game."
Phillip finished with a career-high 16 points. London, Voyles and Davis all had 14 points. That total tied a career-best for Voyles and was a career high for Davis. Pollard, Jr. anchored the team's defense with game highs in rebounds, steals and blocks with six, four and two respectively.
Eastern Shore's next game will be Wednesday (December 8) at home against Clarks Summit at 7 p.m. That will be the team's first game at home since November 13.
