NORFOLK, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team had a strong showing on Saturday (February 12) against the MEAC-leading Norfolk State University Spartans, but ultimately came up short as the Hawks fell 70-63 at Echols Hall.
"This team is really good and hats off to them. I thought our guys did a great job of taking care of the basketball against the best defensive team in the league that switches their defenses a lot," head coach Jason Crafton said. "Our issues tonight were that we got outrebounded and didn't make our free throws. When you do that versus a really good team it's hard to get a win."
Eastern Shore came out hot from behind the arc in the first half. Senior Nathaniel Pollard, Jr. scored the first basket of the game via a layup 54 seconds into play. The team's next four field goals would all come from 3-pointers. Juniors Da'Shawn Phillip and Kevon Voyles along with senior Zion Styles made the first three to put the team up 11-8 with 13:08 on the clock.
Senior Donchevell "Tuka" Nugent hit the final shot of the stretch of baskets from downtown with 10:24 left until halftime. The Hawks lead 16-11 at that point, but would go on a drought from the field for almost six minutes. They would not make another shot from the field until Phillip hit a driving layup with 4:36 on the clock to make the score 21-19 in favor of the Spartans.
Pollard, Jr. would find Voyles for a backdoor layup with 2:48 left in the half to put Maryland Eastern Shore up 25-24. NSU would outscore the Hawks 6-1 in the final minutes of the half to lead 30-26 at the break.
The second half opened with the Spartans going on a run to lead by 10 with 15:46 remaining. Styles made a layup on the next possession, but it was answered by a layup from Norfolk State to make the score 46-36 as the game went into the under 16:00 media timeout.
With the score standing at 48-37 with 13:40 remaining, The Shore made a 7-2 run to get back into the game. Styles hit a pair of free throws and Voyles made a layup on the next possession. Voyles hit a 3-pointer with 12:22 on the clock to make the score 50-44 to finish the run and put the squad in good position.
Norfolk State got their lead back up to 60-51 with 7:01 left. Freshman Chace Davis made a layup a minute later and that was followed by another three from Voyles to bring the team within four. After a layup by the Spartans made the score 62-56, Davis made a free throw and then another layup after the final media timeout to make the score 62-59 with 3:26 left.
The two teams traded baskets on the next three possessions as NSU held a 67-61 advantage with under two minutes left. Following a timeout by the Hawks, Phillip drove in and made a layup to cut the lead to 67-63 with 1:22 left.
Unfortunately, that is the closet the team would get for the rest of the game. The Spartans made their free throws down the stretch to hold Maryland Eastern Shore off and secure the victory.
Styles scored 14 points to lead the Hawks in scoring. Voyles and Phillip each had 13 and Davis followed with 11. Pollard, Jr. pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for the squad. The team also has their lowest turnover output as a group in conference play as they committed just 11 against NSU.
Eastern Shore will now host Howard on Monday (February 14) in their third game in six days.
