Hawks grounded by late three pointer in loss at Canisius

 
SUMMARY

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks were edged by the Golden Griffins of Canisius College, 60-57, thanks to a go-ahead three-pointer by Bryan Ndjonga with 4.4 seconds left
 

 
THE SCORE

Maryland Eastern Shore (2-5) - 57
Canisius Golden Griffins (3-3) - 60

 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

 
Early UMES baskets came from Levi Beckwith, Joe Locandro and Zion Obanla as the Hawks grabbed a slim 8-7 margin by the 13:43 mark. The teams traded runs for the remainder of the opening half. Canisius went on a 11-2 run to grab a 18-10 lead by the nine minute mark followed by a UMES 10-0 run capped off with a Beckwith three ball. The Griffins ended the half with a 8-2 run as the Hawks found themselves back down, 26-20, at half. UMES shooters struggled to find the mark in the first half, converting just 27.6% (8-29) from the field. A bright spot for the Hawks was the play of Locandro and Beckwith. Locandro led all players with nine points and five rebounds while Beckwith scored seven points to help keep UMES within striking distance of Canisius.

 
UMES cut the deficit down to one, 30-29, by the 15:47 highlighted by a three pointer from Locandro and a four point play from guard Michael Teal. Back-to-back threes from Canisius put the Hawks back down by five, 36-31, with 13:47 to play. Canisius used the hot hand of Bryan NdJonga to keep his team ahead. NdJonga hit two three pointers and a jumper from the perimeter over an eight minute span to spark his team a 53-48 lead with just over three minutes remaining. A Locandro hit from three-point range brought UMES to with two, 53-51, at the 2:10 mark. After a pair of free throws from Cansius, Justin Monden came down the floor and converted from beyond the arc to make it a one-point game with 1:32 to go. After a defensive stop, Zion Obanla kicked the ball out for a Trey Brown three-pointer to give UMES a 57-55 advantage with 59 seconds left. Khalil Singleton scored on the other end to tie the game with 52 seconds on the clock. After an empty UMES possession, the Hawks would fall victim to another Ndjonga three-pointer as the junior forward rose over the defender and hit the go ahead basket with 4.4 seconds left. UMES was able to get one more look but a potential game-tying shot hit bounced around the rim and out of the cylinder as the buzzer sounded.
 


 
BY THE NUMBERS

 
Friday was the first meeting between the Hawks and Griffins.

 
Joseph Locandro led all players with a game-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds.

 
This weekend marks the return of the Queen City Classic MTE at Canisius. The Griffins last hosted the event during the 1973-1974 season.

 
After combining for 49 of the Hawks' 83 points on Tuesday, guards Justin Monden, Jaden Cooper and Trey Brown were held scoreless in the first half. Monden ended up scoring 10 points in the second half while Brown finished with five points.

 
Bryan Ndjonga finished with a team-high 14 points with 11 coming in the second half.

 
Canisius converted 11 of 23 three pointers on the night compared to a 9-for-27 performance from the Hawks.

 
 
COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH CLEO HILL, JR


"I thought Canisius executed well throughout the ball game and especially down the stretch. We simply did not play well enough to win the game."
 

"They did a good job of limited our guard play early on but I thought we were able to use our size and draw some fouls. We were able to get them in the bonus early but I feel we didn't fully take advantage of that."


"One of the strengths and focuses of our team is being well-balanced. I feel we did not do a great job of that today for the full forty minutes."

 
"Joe (Locandro) had a strong night. He continues to show his versatility as a scorer and I thought he played well."

 
"I thought we shot too many three pointers in the first half. I also thought we struggled at times closing out on their shooters and it hurt us on quite a few posessions throughout the game."

 
"I expect a team to be extremely serious and focused going into tomorrow. We will have a morning shootaround and regroup for Binghamton on Saturday."



UP NEXT


The Hawks return to the Koessler Center floor in Buffalo on Saturday against Binghamton at 3 pm in the final game of the Queen City Classic.