PRINCESS ANNE, Md.? Four University of Maryland Eastern Shore players reached double figures and junior forward Neal Pitt picked up his third double-double of the season as the Hawks survived a second-half charge from Winston-Salem State, 69-66, Saturday at the W.P. Hytche Center.
Pitt scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead UMES to its first win over WSSU since the 1968-69 season, a 89-88 victory when the school was known at Maryland State.
Freshman Jaime Boyer had a career-high 14 points, all in the first half, and Gary Lee tallied 11, while Keishawn Mayes had 10.
“I thought our kids showed a lot of poise down the stretch,” said UMES head coach Frankie Allen. “Second half, let’s give Winston-Salem State credit, they really came out after us and really took it to us.
“In the first half, we pretty much had things the way we wanted, but that’s the thing about MEAC play, especially early in the season like this,” he continued. “You have to be ready to play and I’m proud of the way we were able to finish the game.”
The Hawks held a 22-point advantage late in the first half at 39-17 on a Lee layup with 2:06 to play and looked as though they would cruise to their second victory of the season up, 39-24, at the half.
Instead, the Rams (4-9) scored nine of 13 points to open the second half and cut the UMES lead to 10 (43-33) on a Brian Fisher layup with 15:54 to play. Fisher led all scorers with 24 points.
WSSU again cut the lead to four on another Fisher shot in the lane to make it 45-41 with under 14 minutes left.
Jamar Slocum converted a layup to pull the Rams within one at 53-52 with 7:43 left and the visitors took just their second lead of the game, 61-59, on a three-point play from Fisher at the 2:42 mark.
UMES (2-9) knotted the game at 61 less than a minute later as Marc Davis dropped in a layup and the Hawks never again trailed. WSSU committed back-to-back turnovers after a Josh Bright jumper and Hawks iced the game at the foul line to secure the win.
The Rams countered the Hawks’ 14-of-28 (50 percent) first-half shooting performance with 60 percent from the field of their own (17-of-26) in the second. For the game, WSSU outshot UMES, 49 percent-43.1 percent.
UMES won the battle of the boards, 38-31.