WASHINGTON, D.C. — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team was not able to secure their third straight win on Saturday (February 5) as they fell 72-64 to the Howard University Bison inside Burr Gymnasium.

The Hawks (7-10, 2-4 MEAC) had a strong showing on Saturday despite dealing with a banged up backcourt due to injuries. The team's leading scorer, junior guard Dom London, missed his first game on the season due to injury and will be reevaluated next week.

Junior Kevon Voyles just returned from being injured in the team's last game and junior Da'Shawn Phillip was a game time decision on Saturday. Both played in the contest, but each will be brought along slowly in the coming weeks.

"I'm really proud of how hard our guys played, especially with all the injuries that we have going on," head coach Jason Crafton said. "We got down in the first half, came back in the second half to make it a tight game, and they made their free throws down the stretch.

"We just have to do a better job ourselves at the free throw line and taking care of the ball because 24 turnovers is too much and I thought that was the difference in the game."

The game got off to a fast start offensively for both teams in the opening minutes. Senior Nathaniel Pollard, Jr. connected on back to back layups to give the Hawks a 9-5 lead with 16:30 on the clock. After a 3-pointer from Howard, Phillip made a driving layup to make the score 11-8 30 seconds later.

Pollard, Jr. connected on another bucket at the 15:17 mark and the squad would eventually take a 13-10 lead into the under 16:00 media timeout. Eastern Shore went cold for the next five minutes and did not get another field goal until senior Mike Mensah connected from long range at the 10:24 mark. The Shore led 16-15 at that point.

The game continued to go back and forth for the next few minutes. Senior Donchevell "Tuka" Nugent made a layup with 5:50 on the clock to put the team up 24-22. The offense for the Hawks went stagnant after that as that would be the last points of the half for Eastern Shore. Howard scored the final 10 points of the opening half to take a 32-24 lead into the locker room.

As the second half began, the Bison were able to keep the Hawks at bay in the opening minutes. The Shore had only cut into the lead by one point as Howard led 39-32 with 14:32 left.

Eastern Shore would then go on a run to eventually tie the game. Following two straight buckets from Nugent, the team was within one at the 12:05 mark. Howard would get a layup a possession later to go up 42-39 with 11:12 left. Freshman Chace Davis would hit a 3-pointer 14 seconds later to tie the game. The Bison hit a pair at the line after that, but Pollard, Jr. would come right back to retie the game at 44 with 10:29 remaining.

Over the next seven minutes of game action, the Hawks were in an offensive funk as Howard outscored them 21-4 to take a 65-48 lead with under four minutes left. Maryland Eastern Shore responded to that with seven straight coming from a three by Phillip and a pair of free throws and a layup by Pollard, Jr. The Bison led 65-55 with 1:28 left in the game at that point.

The final 90 seconds saw the Hawks foul HU to lengthen the game, but the home team went 5-6 from the line down the stretch to secure the win.

Pollard, Jr. had 19 points on 8-9 shooting to lead the Hawks in scoring. His performance against Howard came on the heels of a double-double versus Morgan State on January 31.

"I thought he (Pollard, Jr.) did a good job of finishing around the rim and making plays out of the high post, which we're going to need him to do," Crafton said. "He also got some scrappy deflections (on defense) that got us out in transition."

Davis was also in double figures with 10 points. Voyles pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for Eastern Shore. Howard's Kyle Foster scored 20 to lead all scorers.

The Shore will travel to the Route 13 rival Delaware State on Wednesday (February 9) for their next contest. The game will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m.