Rims shrink for Hawks in loss at Notre Dame

 
SOUTH BEND, Indiana – The rims at Purcell Pavilion seemed to shrink for the Hawks as a tough shooting night combined with 13 made three pointers by the Irish of Notre Dame doomed the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in a 75-55 road loss on Wednesday night.

 
The loss drops the Hawks to 2-3 overall heading into the Thanksgiving holiday while the Irish improved to 3-2 on the year.

 
"We missed a lot of shots near the rim. I thought we had opportunities on the offensive end of the floor and played well defensively for most of the night. Notre Dame's size played a factor in altering some of our shots tonight and we did not do a good enough job of taking care of the ball with 16 turnovers," UMES head coach Jason Crafton said. "Our struggles along with facing a talented Notre Dame team on their home floor made it a tough night. We will learn from this and get ready for another tough road test this weekend at Liberty."

 
The Hawks led early on a Troy Hupstead three pointer but a 29.2% shooting performance from the field in the first twenty minutes along with seven makes from beyond the arc by Notre Dame put the Hawks in a 34-17 deficit at the break.

 
UMES managed a slightly better shooting performance in the second half with a 12-of-31 ledger from the field (38%) but ND shooters were even better making 15 of 27 shots (55%) and going six of 10 from three point range (60%).
 
 
"In addition to our turnovers and inability to consistently execute offensively, Notre Dame shot the ball extremely well," said Crafton. "We had a good game plan and did a good job of guarding them but they were able to keep making shots at an efficient rate."
 
 
For the game, the Irish were over 50% from the field including a 13-for-27 rate from three-point land. Braeden Shrewsberry, the son of ND head coach Micah Shrewsberry, knocked down four of ND's 13 three-pointers and led the Irish with 13 points.
 
 
UMES was paced by Hupstead's double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Devon Ellis finished with 13 points.

 
"I thought Troy stepped up his level of play through the second half and did a good job of rebounding the ball while giving us more of a presence in the post," Crafton said. "Devon is aggressive. He continues to develop and make plays for us in his first year in the program. We will need everyone on our team to step up and improve as we go through a dynamic and challenging stretch of non-conference games throughout the next few weeks. We embrace these types of games. We have already played three high level programs in Temple, Penn and Notre Dame with more of these opportunities ahead of us. We look to compete and continue to get better through each game."
 
 
The Hawks will travel to face an undefeated Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday at 1 pm.