PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — In their third straight game inside the Hytche Center, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team fell 75-63 to the North Carolina Central University Eagles Monday night (January 24).

"I really liked our resilience in fighting back in the first and second half," Crafton said. "We cut the lead down to five, but it came down to some missed layups and wide open shots so we were unable to overcome such a strong deficit."

The two teams split the first 20 points of the game and were tied at 10 after the first four minutes of play. NCCU would go on an 8-1 over the next 90 seconds to lead 18-11 with 14:02 on the clock. The Eagles continued to keep the Hawks at bay and would lead 26-17 with 9:29 left until halftime.

Eastern Shore began to slowly cut into the lead at that point. Senior Zion Styles found fellow senior Mike Mensah with a nice pass for a layup and junior Kohen Thompson hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to make the score 26-22.

NCCU got a layup of their own after that, but were called for a technical foul and freshman Chace Davis knocked down the two technical free throws. He followed that up with a shot behind the arc to bring the team within one at 28-27 with 7:54 left in the half.

Maryland Eastern Shore would not get any closer in the half as NCCU would go on a 9-1 run to go up 37-28 with three minutes on the clock. The visitors lead would get up to 10 at halftime as they went into the locker room up 43-33.

In the second half, the Hawks saw the Eagles continue to build their lead. North Carolina Central outscored The Shore 13-3 in the first six minutes to lead by 56-36.

The next six minutes of gameplay saw Eastern Shore turn up their defensive intensity. They scored 11 straight points that was punctuated with a 3-point play by junior Da'Shawn Phillip to make the score 56-47 with 8:08 left.

After two straight from long distance by NCCU, the Hawks came right back with two of their own from Thompson and senior Donchevell "Tuka" Nugent. Nugent was also fouled on his shot and he completed the 4-point play to make the score 62-54 with 5:55 left.

Junior Dom London made a 3-pointer with 2:40 left to make the NC Central lead 66-61. Unfortunately, that is the closest the squad would get for the rest of the game as the Eagles made their free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

London had 16 points to lead the team in scoring. Thompson poured in his season-high of 10 points to go along with four rebounds. Justin Wright had a game-high 21 points for NCCU.

Eastern Shore will take on Coppin State in Baltimore in their next game on Saturday. The game will tip off at approximately 4 p.m.