March 6, 2008

Box Score

DOVER, Del. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Hawks closed out their regular season with a 67-52 loss to Delaware State University (DSU) Thursday night in Memorial Hall. With the loss UMES will play as the 11th seed in the conference tournament.

"We had plenty of opportunities to execute but we seemed to come up short when we needed a basket," said Interim Head Coach Meredith Smith.

DSU (13-15, 10-6 MEAC) opened up the game a red-hot 10-of-11 from the field to take a 26-8 lead behind 15 points from senior Roy Bright. Bright scored the first eight points of the contest on back-to-back three-pointers and a layup to give the Hornets an early 8-0 advantage just three minutes into the game.

The matchup appeared to take a turn for the worse when Donald Johnson nailed a three-pointer to give DSU their largest lead of the game, 29-10, with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.

However, UMES (4-27, 2-14 MEAC) would use a 10-2 run that culminated with an Ishmawiyl McFadden (Philadelphia, Pa./Simon Gratz H.S.) jumper to cut the margin to 31-22 with 4:37 left in the first period.

The teams exchanged buckets before Denzel Jackson (Philadelphia, Pa./Lincoln H.S.) closed the half with a last second jumper, his only points of the game, to trim the lead to 39-27 heading into the break. Jackson grabbed six boards.

DSU seemed poised to runaway with the game in the second half, but the Hawks would not let them as both sides traded baskets over the first eight and a half minutes.

Joe Dickens tried to ignite a rally to clinch the win for the Hornets with a pair of lay-ins to give them a 14 point advantage with just under 11 minutes to go, but UMES quickly went on a six point run that was capped off by an Omar Akram (Salisbury, Md./Baltimore International College) layup that made things interesting as the lead had been cut to eight points, 51-43, with 8:48 left in regulation.

Ed Tyson (Baltimore, Md./Walbrook H.S.) followed a Dickens jumper with a free throw to keep UMES within distance at 53-44 with five and a half to play.

Unfortunately, Johnson would get hot for DSU at the right moment as he nailed consecutive three-pointers on the outside of a UMES free throw to make it 59-45 with 3:14 remaining and all but seal the win for the Hornets.

Davis led the scoring attack for the Hawks with 13 points, while BJ Nimocks (Detroit, Mich./Cloud County C.C.) and Tyson finished with 11 points each. Nimocks also grabbed six boards in his regular season finale before leaving the game midway through the second half with a broken nose. Akram stepped up off the bench as he led both teams with a career-high 12 rebounds to go along with eight points.

The Hornets were led by Bright who finished with a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds. All 18 of his points came in the first half. Frisco Sandidge added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Dickens and Johnson finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

DSU outshot UMES in all phases of the game, including from the field (44.3-42 percent), three-point range (33.3-23.1 percent), and the free throw line (83.3-53.8 percent). The two sides combined to shoot only 19 foul attempts overall.

The Hawks had more bench points (15-13) than DSU while holding close in a number of other categories, including rebounds (33-32), points in the paint (34-34), and second chance points (15-13). The big difference came in the turnover department as UMES committed six more than their opposition (17-11) and had fewer points off them (17-8).

"It's unfortunate that we took away our own momentum by making crucial mistakes," said Smith. "I think we hurt ourselves tonight by stopping our own runs with turnovers."

UMES will travel to Raleigh, North Carolina for the MEAC Tournament as they face the sixth seeded Florida A&M Rattlers in the opening round on Wednesday, March 12. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 E.T. and can be heard on WTGM-AM 960 The Team or live on the internet at www.umeshawks.com.