Hawks unable to keep up with Howard freshman Harper in Monday night loss
 
 
SUMMARY

The University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks dropped Monday night's MEAC matchup to Howard, 86-62.

 
THE SCORE
 
Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (4-21; 0-9) - 62
Howard Bison (11-15; 6-3) - 86
 

 
HOW IT HAPPENED


The Howard Bison stormed out to an early 9-0 run to open the game with HU freshman Blake Harper pouring in seven points in the first three minutes.

After a timeout by UMES head coach Cleo Hill, Jr., guard Ketron "KC" Shaw broke the early Hawk scoring drought with a midrange jumper. Shaw went on to score eight of the first 10 UMES points while three makes from the free throw line by Hassan Perkins cut the HU lead down to five, 18-13, by the 10:48 mark.

A Cardell Bailey three pointer at the 9:31 mark brought the Hawks to within two before Harper responded with a three pointer of his own followed by a fastbreak laying to spark a 11-0 run for the Bison and pushing the HU lead back up to thirteen, 29-16, with 6:40 to go.

An Evan Johnson off balanced finish snapped the HU scoring run at the 6:02 mark. Free throws and a fast break dunk from Hawk freshman Kyrell Shaw cut the deficit down to seven. Harper scored his 20^th point of the half while the Bison extended the lead up to 34-22 with 3:50 remaining in the opening half.

The Bison seized momentum after the final media timeout. The Bison finished the half on a 16-3 run to take a 45-23 lead into half. HU went into the locker room shooting over 62% from the field while UMES made just 28 percent of its shot attempts in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Bison maintained a healthy throughout the second half. A three ball by Marcus Dockery and a traditional three point play by Harper gave HU its largest lead, 72-46, with under six minutes to play. The Bison ended up cruising to the eventual 24-point victory.
 
 

 
BY THE NUMBERS

 
Led by Blake Harper's 34 points on 12-for-16 shooting, Howard converted 33 of 59 field goals (55.3%)
 
UMES made 20-of-57 shot attempts (35.1%).
 
KC Shaw highlighted the UMES efforts with 21 points and eight rebounds while Evan Johnson finished with 15 points.
 
UMES committed 15 turnovers compared to just seven giveaways by HU.
 
 
 
 
COMMENTS FROM COACH CLEO HILL, JR

 
"They shoot the ball really well in the first half and came out with more energy in the first half than we did. Coach Blakeney does an excellent job with his team and they jumped on us early."

 
"I thought their freshman star (Blake) Harper played like the potential conference player of the year. He is a tough matchup and was the difference tonight."

 
"On a positive note, I do think some of our guys showed the will to compete and fight in the second half. We will draw on these experiences and be better moving forward."



UP NEXT

The Hawks continue MEAC play at home on Saturday against North Carolina Central at 4 pm.