PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team dropped their Saturday afternoon (January 22) matchup with the South Carolina State University Bulldogs by a score of 69-60.
It was the second straight game that the Hawks struggled shooting the ball. The team has also had trouble taking care of the ball in their last two contests after being away from the competition for four weeks.
"We have a lot of things to improve on," head coach Jason Crafton said. "I think we set a tone in the first semester of being a tough hard-nosed team and we still do that in spots, but it's not who we are with enough consistency which makes me feel like we're not playing a tough brand of basketball."
In the first half, SC State got out to a 21-11 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Hawks responded with six straight points to get within four. SCSU answered back with four of their own to hold a 25-17 lead with 7:03 on the clock.
Junior Kevon Voyles grabbed an offensive rebound and made a layup after that, but took a bad fall and would be out the rest of the game. He had served as the lone offensive spark up to that point as he had nine of the team's 19 points before his injury.
Despite the Voyles injury, the Hawks kept chipping away at the lead and tied the game at 31 with 2:37 on the clock following a layup by senior Donchevell Nugent. Freshman Chace Davis would give the team the lead on the squad's next possession with just under two minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs would score the final six points of the half to go into the locker room up 37-33.
Eastern Shore fell behind 44-35 in the opening minutes of the second half. They would go on an 8-0 run to pull within one at the 14:54 mark. The run came courtesy of a pair of 3-pointers from senior Zion Styles and junior Kohen Thompson and two free throws by junior Dom London.
The next six minutes would see a 13-3 spurt from the visitors to go up 57-46 with 8:55 left. SCSU would keep their lead above nine points for the next seven minutes of play before Maryland Eastern Shore would make one last push.
With 1:49 left on the clock, the Hawks were down 63-53. Styles got a steal and missed a tough layup, but Davis would get a tip in off the miss. The squad would force another turnover and get two foul shots from London to make the score 63-57 with 1:09 left.
After SCSU made two free throws, junior Da'Shawn Phillip would go the length of the floor and make a layup while getting fouled. He stepped to the line and made the free throw to make the score 65-60 with 24 seconds remaining.
The Hawks would not score anymore as the Bulldogs made their final four free throws and got two defensive stops to seal the game.
Phillip led the Hawks in scoring with 11. He was tied with London for the team lead in rebounds as they each had five. London also dished out a game-high five assists.
The Shore will now host North Carolina Central on Monday night (January 24). The game will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. after the conclusion of the women's game between the two schools.
