CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team failed to find their rhythm on the road against Charlotte on Monday night, dropping the contest 80-47.

The Hawks opened the game with a 7-4 advantage with 17:44 on the first half clock. Charlotte responded with a 17-2 run over the next 3:48, leading 23-9 with 12:49 to go.

Later in the half, the 49ers built a 12-0 run spanning nearly five and a half minutes of the half. The teams split the remainder of the opening half 4-4 on their way to the halftime score of 41-18.

"UNC Charlotte was ready to play," head coach Jason Crafton said. "I talked to their coaching staff afterwards, they said they prepared for us for six straight days, and you could tell."

The Niners held the Hawks at bay throughout the second half, never letting UMES closer than 23 in the last 20 minutes.

Da'Shawn Phillip scored a team-high 16 points on a 5-of-8 shooting clip. Zion Styles was next in line, finishing with 13 points and a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Dionte Johnson finished third with seven points in the contest.

"I thought we had a good game plan in place, but I didn't think we executed it at the highest level we possibly could," Crafton said. "I still like things we did off the bench, with some guys coming in and giving us some big minutes."

"The challenge for our starters is to play better at the beginning of the basketball game, and we'll do that. We'll be ready for a good George Washington team, but we gotta play better."

That trip to face George Washington University comes on Friday, November 18. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.