Hawks edged by Longwood on the road, 80-76
 

SUMMARY

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks were in good position to end their six-game road swing before surrendering a late game run in an eventual 80-76 loss to Longwood on Thursday.

 
THE SCORE

Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (2-10) – 76
Longwood Lancers (8-2) – 80
 

 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Behind the hot hand of guard Evan Johnson and Ketron "KC" Shaw, the Hawks jumped out to a 24-13 lead over the heavily favored Lancers. Longwood battled back to close the gap and grabbed its first lead with under a minute to go in the half, 39-38. Shaw ended a perfect half at the free throw line by sinking his seventh and eighth of the night to give the Hawks a 40-39 advantage of halftime. Johnson, who led all scorers with 18 in the first half, along with 14 points by Shaw accounted for all but eight UMES points in the first 20 minutes of play.
 
In a back-and-forth second half, Hawk big man Christopher Flippin started to make his presence felt with six points including a dunk off of a Johnson dish. LU and UMES exchanged the lead five times over the first 12 minutes of play with a Cardell Bailey putting UMES up 66-64 at the 7:07 mark.
 
Bailey battled through traffic for another basket and a foul at the 5:36 mark to keep UMES in the lead, 70-68. Shaw hit a mid-range jumper and Johnson found Flippin for another dunk as UMES led by four, 74-70, with 4:12 to go. Unfortunately for UMES, Johnson went down on the play with injury and was limited down the stretch. The Lancers took advantage of the limited Johnson and the Hawks with a 10-2 run to end the game sparked by a batch of second chance points. Two free throws by Colby Garland after an offensive rebound gave the Lancers a two possession lead with 3 seconds and LU went on to the 80-76 victory.
 
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 
Thursday night was the end of six straight road games for the Hawks.
 
UMES guard Evan Johnson led all players with 23 points along with five assists. Ketron "KC" Shaw scored 21 points which included a 13-for-14 performance from the free throw line along with seven rebounds.
 
Cardell Bailey made five-of-seven shot attempts for 14 points. Chris Flippin added 10 points and seven rebounds.
 
LU held a 19-4 edge in offensive rebounds and a 21-8 advantage in second chance points.
 
Cody Garland led LU with 22 points, five assists and three steals. Michael Christmas had 19 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The Hawks were 23-of-38 from the field (60.5%) and converted 22 of 31 free throws. LU made 30 of 69 field goals (43.5%).

UMES has lost 25 straight road games.

 

 
COMMENTS FROM COACH CLEO HILL, JR
 
"We battled but we did control the rebounds and it continues to be an issue for us. We need to continue to emphasize that area and find the desire to come up with those possessions."
 
"Evan (Johnson) was managing the game perfectly and when he went down, that hurt us. He was distributing the basketball, managing the clock and making shots at the right time. Having said that, we expect our guys to step up and they will moving forward."
 
"We played better tonight but we are not ready to close yet. This group has not been together very long and we need to have moments like this to better understand what we need to do to win."
 
"We finally get a chance to come back home on Sunday. After a long stretch of road games, our guys are happy to be back home. We will use Friday to focus on academics and spend Saturday getting ready for Wagner."
 
 

 
NEXT UP

The Hawks play at home on Sunday against Wagner.