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Feb. 23, 2010
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - It looked as though the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team was going to upset the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference's season leader, Morgan State, but missed free throws got the best of the Hawks as they fell, 65-61, Monday night at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center. UMES' lone senior Neal Pitt (Fort Washington, Md.) recorded his fourth double-double of the season and the 14th of his career with 11 points and 15 rebounds on Senior Night. Junior Tim Burns (Franklinville, N.J.) led all scorers with 23 points on 8-for-10 from the field and 4-for-4 from behind the arc. Fellow junior Kevin White (Brooklyn, N.Y.) also scored in double digits with 16 points and dished out seven assists. The home team took the lead early with a sweet lay-in by White at the 18:20 mark to go up 4-2 and they would not look back at all in the first half. Two 3-pointers by Burns within the next four minutes would put the Hawks up, 12-6. White and sophomore Tyler Hines (Sicklerville, N.J.) demonstrated what a pick and roll should look like with 9:11 remaining as Hines set the pick for White, rolled to the basket and received the ball back for an easy one-handed floater that was good for two points to make the score 21-11. With just under five minutes remaining in the half, Burns was fouled from behind the arc and proceeded to swish his three free throws to stay up by 10 at 31-21. This would be the only good news from the charity stripe, as UMES would shoot just 42.9 percent for the entire game, compared to the Bears' 63.6 percent. The Hawks would take their largest lead of the game at 34-23 coming off of a trey from White with 1:39 remaining in the half and eventually go into the locker room with a score of 34-27. Burns continued his hot shooting in the second half with a 3-pointer just a minute and a half in to make the score, 38-29. The Bears would slowly creep their way back into the game as UMES started to miss free throws early on in the second half. Just under the 10-minute mark, a perfectly drawn up inbounds play resulted in two points for the Hawks as White cut across the baseline and received the pass from junior Josh Bright (Salisbury, Md.) and put it up for two tie the game at 43-43. UMES would regain the lead at the 6:46 mark with a fast-break layup by White to make the score 49-47. With 3:51 remaining, Bright and White made another fast break play passing the ball back and forth up the court, this time resulting in three points for the home team as Bright took the ball to the hoop, was fouled and made his free throw to make the score 54-52. MSU would then tie the game for the seventh time with a score of 56-56 and 1:27 remaining with a layup by DeWayne Jackson. The Bears would win the matchup in the last minute and a half as the Hawks would miss five of six free throws and MSU went on to make seven of 10 in the remaining time. UMES held the MEAC's leading scorer, Reggie Holmes, to just one field goal on the night and a total of eight points. Kevin Thompson would register a double-double for the Bears with 21 points and 10 rebounds. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 9-19 on the season and 7-7 in the MEAC. MSU improves to 21-9 overall and 13-1 in MEAC play. UMES looks to get back over the .500 mark in the MEAC with a 4:00 p.m. game at Howard Saturday.
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