 
|
Feb. 23, 2004
Princess Anne, MD - Playing most of the game without their star senior on the night he was honored, the UMES men's basketball team stayed close throughout against the Hampton University Pirates before succumbing 79-71 at the Hytche Center Monday night. Senior Tee Trotter, honored along with six other Hawks graduating seniors in a special pre-game ceremony, hurt his knee only minutes into the game and was only able to log 16 minutes, 10 in the first half. He scored eight points, ten below his season average, but his teammates kept the game within reaching distance without his presence on the court. After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Hawks pulled within 72-70 with 45 seconds left on a steal and lay up by Aaron Wellington. Lawrence Smith, who played a season-high 30 minutes and scored a career-high seven points in the absence of Trotter, knocked the ball away from Hampton's Devin Green to set up Wellington's lay in. After a timeout, the Hawks almost stole the ball again in the Hampton backcourt, but Green saved possession after Antoine Joiner knocked the ball free from Jeff Granger. Green threw the ball back to Granger who was fouled by Wellington, and the sophomore made the first foul shot to go 13-13 from the line in the game. But Granger missed the second shot and UMES grabbed the rebound trailing 73-70 and called timeout with 19 seconds left. Trotter checked into the game in spite of his knee injury, and was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass by all-MEAC performer Green, who fouled out of the game. The senior was only able to make the second of two free throws however, and Hampton got the ball to Granger again after the made shot.
This time Granger hit both foul shots with 18 seconds left, and the Pirates' David Johnson stole Joiner's inbounds pass. Johnson hit both free throws to put Hampton ahead by six and seal the win.
Hampton built a 39-31 halftime advantage thanks to terrific backcourt play from Green and Granger, who combined for 19 of their team's first-half points. The physical half featured 22 combined fouls and three technical fouls whistled. The Pirates shot 58% in the half to UMES' 35% from the field. Hampton kept that momentum through the early minutes of the second half, scoring 11 points on the first four possessions of the half to build the biggest lead of the game at 50-38 with 17:04 left. UMES stayed in the game thanks to 18 second-half points from Wellington, including four three-point makes. As a team the Hawks made 15 of 27 field goal attempts after halftime. Before the game, the Hawk coaches honored seven graduating seniors: Jermaul Akanbi, Smith and Joiner (each with playing eligibility remaining) along with Kirk Wesley, Didier Socka, Javes Wiggins and Trotter. It was the final home game of the season for UMES, which finished 3-9 at the Hytche Center. Granger led all scorers with 23 points, including the tremendous 15-16 performance from the foul line. Combined with a 10-10 free throw shooting night on January 19th, he went 25-26 against the Hawks from the charity stripe this season. Green added 14 points and nine rebounds, while Bruce Brown had 11 points. Wellington and Tim Parham paced UMES with 18 points, while Wiggins was the only other player in double-figures with 12. The Hawks return to action Saturday night at conference-leading Coppin State, in a re-match of a game they lost by 26 earlier this season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. |
|||||||||
| ||||||||||
