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Nov. 21, 2009
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Despite a shakeup in the starting lineup, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team fell to Eastern Michigan University, 76-51, Saturday during the Hispanic College Fund Challenge hosted by Missouri State University at JQH Arena. Prior to Saturday's matchup, head coach Frankie Allen and his staff decided to send a message to their players after a 0-3 start on the season. Junior Josh Bright (Salisbury, Md.) and freshmen Sean Berry (Irvington, N.J.) and James Cotton (Pocomoke, Md.) made their first starts of the season while redshirt freshman Mark Robertson (Lakewood, N.J.) stayed in the starting lineup for the fourth straight game and junior Kevin White (Brooklyn, N.Y.) started his third game. Robertson and White led the Hawks in scoring with 8 points apiece. White continued to dish out assists on the season with five against the Eagles (3-1). Junior Freddy Obame Obame (Libreville, Gabon) and redshirt sophomore Hillary Haley (Oxon Hill, Md.) each had six rebounds in the contest. The game started with two quick fouls by Bright and Cotton at 18:54 and 18:39 but did not continue with this pace. Cotton got himself in early foul trouble coming out of halftime with two quick fouls to put him with four on the night. A 3-pointer by Haley at 15:32 put UMES up for the first time in the game at 10-8. EMU's Jay Higgins quickly responded with his own 3-pointer to make the score 11-10. It looked as though there would be a change of momentum in benefit of the Hawks with a steal by Kevin White at 10:31and then an offensive foul a minute later by the Eagle's Brandon Bowdry. Senior Neal Pitt (Fort Washington, Md.) tied the game at 20 with a layup at 6:43 and EMU would not look back at that point.
The Hawks balanced their scoring attack in the first half with seven players scoring at least one basket and went into the locker room down by only six at 34-28. UMES came out of half time with low morale and scored their first points at 16:23 with a basket by White to make the score 40-30. The slow beginning continued as the Hawks scored only five points up to a 12:54 timeout by Coach Allen. A dunk by EMU's Justin Dobbins at 11:25 sealed the momentum for the Eagles and gave them a 16-point lead which would only increase in remaining time. UMES shot .310 from the field (18-for-54) while EMU was .500 (28-for-56). A normally hot team from behind the arc, the Hawks made only 3-of-19 (.158) 3-pointers. The Eagles also out-rebounded the Hawks, 42-32. "We didn't perform at all in the second half," commented Allen. "Even though we had problems with the zone, we had good shots and just didn't make them. It's one of those things; we have to come back tomorrow and regroup to get a win. We're not playing the way we need to play to win and we're not executing at all. We need to put this one behind us and focus on tomorrow to come out and play better against The Citadel." Dobbins had a game-high 19 points for EMU and also grabbed five rebounds. Bowdry led the Eagles with eight rebounds while Carlos Medlock had six assists. The Hawks wrap up the Hispanic College Fund Challenge Sunday with a 5:30 p.m. tip against The Citadel Bulldogs. |
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