SUMMARY

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks struggled to find their shooting rhythm in the second half in a 81-59 loss at Norfolk State to begin MEAC play.

THE SCORE

Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (4-13; 0-1) – 59
Norfolk State Spartans (10-7; 1-0) - 81
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Hawks had a slow start to conference play as UMES allowed Norfolk State to jump out to a 23-6 lead before the offense finally found its mark by going on a 16-3 run to jump back into the game. Sparked by eight points from freshman Kyrell Shaw along with six first half points from his brother and season leading scorer Ketron "KC" Shaw, the Hawks trailed NSU, 35-29, at halftime.
 
A good three pointer by Evan Johnson cut the Spartan lead down to three, 37-34, in the early stages of the second half before a poor one-for-twelve shooting stretch put the Hawks proved to be too much to overcome. UMES was held scoreless for over four minutes as the NSU lead crept up to nineteen, 67-48, with 5:09 remaining. A Johnson three pointer at the 4:54 mark broke the shooting slump for the Hawks but the Spartans remained in control down the stretch and eventually cruised to a 81-59 win.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
 
Hawk shooters were 35.4 percent from the field (23-65) while NSU finished the game with a 57.9 shooting percentage (33-57). NSU's shooting percentage is the highest the Hawks have allowed this season.
 
Hawk forward Christopher Flippin led UMES with 17 points and nine rebounds. Flippin was the only Hawk to score in double figures.
 
Brian Moore. Jr. led NSU with a game-high 22 points along with seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and four blocks.
 
The Spartan bench outscored the Hawk reserves, 36-17.
 
Led by Moore, NSU scored 46 points in the pain compared to 32 from UMES.
 
COMMENTS FROM COACH CLEO HILL, JR
 
"We were impressed with the size and versatility of Norfolk State. I think we had some chances throughout the game against their zone and just could not get a shot to go down and it was the major difference tonight."
 
"Unfortunately, we had another slow start tonight. It has been a theme for us and it allowed them to get up on us early. We did a good job of battling back in the first half but allowed the same thing to happen again in the second half. We went through a offensive drought in the second half which also effected us defensively. NSU was able to get some easy looks off our misses and shot the ball extremely well."
 
"We are going to continue to look at the film. I thought we did have some success with certain lineups. I though (Chris) Flippin played solid for us tonight. He played strong against a big Norfolk State lineup. I also thought (Cardell) Bailey had some good moments as part of a four guard lineup and Kyrell Shaw was solid as well."
 
NEXT UP

With Monday's scheduled game against Howard being postponed due to inclement weather forecasts, UMES will have a week to prepare for Saturday road game at North Carolina Central. The game against Howard has been rescheduled for February 10th at UMES.