Hawks drop Wednesday night road contest at Murray State

 
SUMMARY

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks faded away down the stretch to a balanced Murray State offense, 79-61, on Wednesday night.
 

THE SCORE
 
Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (2-5) – 61
Murray State Racers (3-1) – 79
 

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
In a back and forth first half that had eight lead changes and five ties, the Hawks relied on the scoring of Evan Johnson and Ketron "KC" Shaw to keep them in contention. Johnson scored 13 off the bench in the half while Shaw added 10 points along with five rebounds. With the score tied at 28-28, MSU managed to finish out the half on a 8-2 run while the Hawks went through nearly four minutes without a made field goal. At the end of the first half, the Racers took a 36-30 lead into the locker rooms.
 
Shaw came out with the first five Hawk points in the second half while Murray State continued a balanced scoring attack to maintain a six point cushion, 42-36, through the opening minutes of play. With the margin remaining at six at the 10 minute mark, MSU baskets by Nick Ellington and Terence Harcum extended the lead to 61-50 with 9:09 remaining. The Racers went on a six-for-seven shooting stretch from the field and upped the lead to 14 on an Ellington layin at the 4:26 mark. UMES could never fully recover. The Racers led by as many as 19 down the stretch and went on to beat the Hawks, 79-61.
 

 
BY THE NUMBERS
 
Ketron "KC" Shaw, who was named MEAC and HBCU+ Player of the Week, finished with a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds. Shaw has scored 20 or more points in six of seven games this season and is averaging 23.4 points per game.
 
UMES guard Evan Johnson scored a season-high 23 points, making eight of 12 shot attempts. No other Hawk player had more than five points in the ballgame. Double-digit scorer Christopher Flippin and forward Jalen Ware battled through foul trouble throughout the game and were ineffective.
 
Murray State's balanced scoring attack was led by Nick Ellington and Kye'Ron Lindsay. Ellington led MSU with 19 points while Lindsay recorded a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Aj Ferguson also had 13 points while Terence Harcum finished with 11 points and Kylen Milton scored 10 in the win. MSU point guard Jacobi Wood recorded 13 assists.
 
With UMES forwards limited due to foul trouble, Murray State held a 15 to 6 edge in offensive rebounding and a 12-4 advantage in second chance points.
 
MSU made 25 of 54 field goals (46%) to a 20 for 51 performance (39%) from UMES.
 

 
NEXT UP
 
The Hawks travel to play Illinois on Saturday at 4 pm. Following Illinois, the Hawks travel to face Arkansas, Little Rock and defending national champion UConn over a span of seven days.