The University of Maryland Eastern Shoe (UMES) hung around but could not overcome a poor shooting effort in a 61-49 loss to North Carolina A&T (NCAT) on Saturday night in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center.

UMES (2-15, 0-3) dropped their sixth straight game and remained winless in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play.

"We missed a lot of layups and open shots tonight," said Interim Head Coach Meredith Smith. "It boils down to us scoring the basket in order to win games."
The Hawks Ed Tyson (Baltimore, Md./Walbrook H.S.) would complete a three-point play to cut the lead to 48-45 with 7:49 remaining in the game.

However, that was the closest UMES would come as NCAT (7-9, 2-2 MEAC) would use a 10 point run capped off by an Austin Ewing three-pointer to take a 58-47 lead with just under five minutes left in the game that sealed the win for the Aggies.

The Aggies jumped out to their biggest lead of the game, 23-11, on a tip-in by Steven Rush ten minutes into the game, but the Hawks would make a comeback and eventually trim the lead to five on a Josh Bright (Salisbury, Md./Morgan State University) three-pointer with just under six to play in the half.

Despite shooting 31 percent from the field and one-of-11 from three-point range in the first half, the Hawks found themselves down only 34-28 at the break. UMES did not have any assists in the first half, while NCAT had five.

The Hawks offensive attack was led by Tyson who with 13 points on five-of-21 shooting from the field. He also added seven rebounds, including five offensive boards. Marc Davis (Baltimore, Md./Walbrook H.S.) was the only other UMES player to score in double figures with 11 points on a two-of-12 shooting effort, while Jahmal Bivins (Randallstown, Md./Randallstown H.S.) provided a nice spark off the bench as he grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to go along with three points in 18 minutes of play, all of which were career-highs for the junior.

"I was proud of the effort from Bivins and we got a great contribution from our bench," said Smith.

Rush led all scorers with 20 points, 18 in the first half, on an impressive seven-of-13 shooting effort from the floor. He could have scored more if it weren't for the defensive pressure from Bright who started guarding him after he had 16 points in the first half.

"[Bright's] defensive play was tremendous," said Smith. "He really slowed Rush down."

Ewing also added 11 points for the Aggies, while Jason Wills recorded a double-double as he finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
In the end, UMES was out rebounded NCAT, 45-41, however; they did manage to force more turnovers, 17 to nine, score more points off them, 20-10, and take advantage of second chance points, 13 to six.

"In the post tonight we did well as could be expected considering how undersized we were without Sasha [Popovic]," said Smith.

NCAT outshot the Hawks from the field (38.3-25.8 percent), three-point range (42.9-17.4 percent), and the free-throw line (64-54.2 percent).