March 7, 2007

Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C. - The 11th seeded University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Men's Basketball team fell 81-70 to seventh seeded Norfolk State University (NSU) in the opening round of the 2007 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament. UMES put up a fight before falling to NSU as Ed Tyson led all scorers with 30 points.

"The team played real hard in the second half, they did what they were supposed to do," said Head Coach Larry Lessett. UMES locked down leading Spartan scorer Tony Murphy in the second half, limiting him to just six points, something they couldn't do in the first half. Murphy had 18 in the first frame and finished with 24.

"He is a really good player," said Lessett. "I think we concentrated too hard on stopping their inside game and we lost sight of him early on." The inside game of Calvin Brown and Tynell Dunkley combined for 28 points, 19 from Dunkley. Brown had 14 rebounds and three blocks in the game.

The game marked the return of Jesse Brooks who finished with eight points. He entered the game at the 13:32 mark and hit his first basket about three minutes later, he may have missed the floor but his hot shooting didn't suffer as he was 3-5 from the floor for the half while only attempting one shot in the second half, playing only five minutes in the second frame.

Brooks had missed the last ten games with a hamstring injury and missed 15 in all. UMES is now 1-15 when he plays and 3-12 when he isn't in uniform.

The Spartan win for Head Coach Dwight Freeman makes him 11-0 all time against UMES.

The Hawks (4-27, 1-17 MEAC) led only once in the game. They took a 2-1 lead at the 19:01 mark and ran it to four on a trey by Tyson at 18:19. Murphy cut it to two just seconds later and they took the lead for good with 15:41 to play on a Dunkley jumper.

It was 42-29 at the break and the Hawks got it down to five, 48-43 at the 13:25 mark on an Antonio McMillion jumper. UMES got it under ten eight times in the frame. It was down to nine with just six seconds to play but a Corey Lyons dunk with two seconds left made the final margin 81-70 in favor of the Spartans (11-18, 10-8 MEAC). Lyons finished with 19.

This marks the final game for seniors Antonio McMillion, Corey Brown, Art Valentine and Shondale Robinson. McMillion fouled out of the game with five points at the 5:11 mark. Brown finished the game with 14 points. "It was hard because I know if I was out there I could help the team, that's not the way you envision yourself going out. It's just hard watching the last minutes of your career tick away instead of play away."

UMES now begins preparations for the off season. "Overall we had a successful year," said Lessett. "The fans and support was great, especially at home, it made the kids excited to play, I hope we can make it even better next season."

The Hawks begin their 2007-2008 campaign next season in October with Midnight Madness. "About Saturday I will start focusing on next year," said Lessett. "We need a couple more big guys inside; we already have a couple of commitments. I am going to get us to the NCAA Tournament. When we get back from spring break we will start getting ready for next season."