SUMMARY: The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks earned a 71-61 win on the home court over the Knights of Queens College on Monday night.

THE SCORE:
Queens Knights (10-8) – 61
Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (5-12) - 71
Location: Hytche Athletic Center | Princess Anne, Maryland

HOW IT HAPPENED
Playing without their leading scorer and rebounder in junior forward Troy Hupstead, the Hawks turned to the post play of Kelechi Okworogwo and Devon Ellis in the first half. Okworogwo came off the bench to lead all players with 11 first half points along with five rebounds while Ellis added 10 points in the opening 20 minutes. Led by the scoring of Okworogwo and Ellis, the Hawks outscored the Knights, 26-12, and took a 36-22 edge at the intermission.

With the Hawks up as many as 18 early in the second half, the three-point shooting of the Knights kept them within striking distance as they narrowed the gap to eight points on a Eric Tynes make from beyond the arc with 11:22 remaining.

The margin was cut down to six at the 3:33 mark on a Sunnie Diamon lay-in. The Hawks used a putback by Okworogwo and a lay-in by Ellis to stay ahead by six. After an empty Queens possession, free throws by Okworogwo put the Hawks up by eight with 27 seconds to play. Damani Claxton added two more makes from the line to put UMES up by a final score of 71-61.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
Without Hupstead in action, the Hawks were paced by a season-high 22 points from Ellis. The sophomore from Chicago, Illinois made eight of 13 shot attempts whole grabbing eight rebounds.
 
Okworogwo finished with a season-high 18 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Tyler Mack finished with 11 points on the night.

UMES held a 38-22 edge in points scored in the paint.

UMES is now 5-1 on their home court this season.
 
 COMMENTS FROM COACH JASON CRAFTON
 "I was happy to see guys like Kelechi play well and give us a double-double. With Troy out, he brought great energy and physical play tonight."

"Devon was efficient on the offensive end. He stepped up and did an excellent job of scoring in the paint."

"I was not happy with our overall play. Queens did a great job of getting to their spots and making it difficult on us down the stretch. We made some big free throws at the end to help seal the victory but we will need to have much better guard play going into our next game."

"We have to be better as we prepare for another conference matchup on Saturday."
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks return to MEAC action at home on Saturday against North Carolina Central at 4 pm.