Turnovers hinder Hawks in loss at South Carolina State
 
 
SUMMARY

Turnovers plagued the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks in a 63-54 loss at South Carolina State on Wednesday.
 

 
THE SCORE

Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (8-16; 4-3) –  54
South Carolina State Bulldogs (5-16; 4-2) – 63
 

 
GAME BREAKDOWN

 
The Hawks and Bulldogs played to a 9-9 tied through the early stages on Wednesday's game with all nine UMES points coming by way of the three point shot. SCSU went on to score the next five points thanks to a drive and a traditional three point play by Jaden Johnson to take a 14-9 lead at the 11:29 mark. Turnovers began to creep up for the Hawks throughout the half. UMES gave the ball away seven times in the first 10 minutes and trailed 16-9 with 9:23 remaining in the half.

 
SC State built their lead up to double figures by the 4:35 mark, 28-16, highlighted by a pair of three pointers from Johnson. The Bulldogs would go on to take a 34-20 lead at half.

 
SC State used three straight baskets by James Morrow to maintain their momentum through the first three minutes of the second half. UMES was unable to gain much momentum through the early moments of the second half. Down 47-30 with under 12 minutes to play, an off balance three pointer from Cooper coming out of the media timeout gave the Hawks some positive offensive momentum. A three point make by Michael Teal with 7:43 to play brought the deficit down to 13. A steal and layin by Cooper sparked a SC State timeout with 6:32 to play. A Jayden Johnson basket settled the Bulldogs after the timeout upped the lead to 55-40. After another Hawk turnover, the Bulldogs up their lead to 58-42 with under five minutes to go.

 
Cooper scored again on a feed inside followed by Justin Monden's free throws to bring the deficit down to twelve with 3:36 remaining. An Obanla finish on the baseline brought UMES to within ten, 58-48 with 2:31 left on the clock. UMES guard Jaden Johnson found Obanla down low for another finish to knock down the Bulldog lead to single digits with under two minutes remaining. With SC State trying to manage the clock, the Hawks scored another basket in the pain to pull within eight, 62-54, with 34.7 seconds left. After a free throw from Florian Tenebay put SC State up by nine, the Hawks would fail to score on their next possession. The Bulldogs were able to dribble out the remaining seconds off the clock as UMES fell 63-54.
 
 
 

 
BY THE NUMBERS

 
UMES turned the ball over 21 times compared to 13 SC State giveaways.

 
With Wednesday's result, UMES has dropped three straight contests while SC State is now winners of its last three games.

 
Jaden Cooper led UMES scorers with 19 points. Zion Obanla added 10 points. No other Hawk player had more than seven points on Wednesday.

 
Jayden Johnson led SC State with 19 points and six rebounds.

 
UMES made eight of 13 free throws while SC State was 19 of 27 from the line.



QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH CLEO HILL, JR


"South Carolina State did an excellent job of executing throughout the game. They are a high intensity and pressing basketball team and jumped on us right from the start. We went over a lot of film over the last few days and we thought we would be prepared for it but we didn't respond well during in-game situations. I especially thought that South Carolina State played harder than us in the first half."


"While I think we had some issues with rest and energy going into our third road game in five days but South Carolina State played extremely well. They were the better team and were able to impact the game with their style of basketball."


"We had some chances to make runs but I thought we looked tired. We also played some different lineups to help counter the fatigue. I do think we showed some fight during the final eight minutes of the game but were unable to capitalize on some key possessions and missed out on a few loose balls."


"We have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. We must do a better job of handling the press. I think our guys know what teams are doing but we have to make better decisions."
 
 
 

 
NEXT GAME
 
The Hawks continue MEAC play on the road on Saturday at Morgan State University.