Men's Basketball 12/11/2011 1:28:00 PM Associated Press

MBB Recap: Dec. 10

Hawks Show No Mercy in Win over Mavericks

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Four University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball players tallied double figures in the Hawks 95-69 win over Mercy College Saturday. Ishaq Pitt had a game-high 18 points shooting an impressive 75 percent (6-of-8) from the field. Percy Woods marked his first double-double of the season with a 16-point 10-assist performance.

Pitt, a freshman, scored 12 of his 18 points from inside the paint. He has consistently been a physical guard this season, making many of his points from within the lane. Due to his strong play near the rim he often is sent to the free-throw line. Pitt had the second best free-throw percentage of the game making 6-of-7 (.750) at the charity stripe.

Two of Pitt's free throws gave the Hawks a 10-point (27-17) lead with 8:14 remaining in the first half. Following his free throws, Mercy made a slight cut into the lead, but a three pointer by Woods put UMES up by 12 points.

Woods was 4-of-6 (.667) from behind the three-point arc. He was 6-of-11 (.545) from the field and dished out his first double figure assist performance. One of Woods assists came during a run late in the first half to give UMES its second highest lead of that period. Woods dished the ball to Hillary Haley at 2:07 in the lane for a good lay-up. Haley's score gave the Hawks a 21-point lead (48-27) late in the first half.

Haley had 17 points for the Hawks in his 30 minutes of play. He knocked down five shots from the field and was a team-best 7-of-9 (.778) at the free-throw line. With the crowd roaring behind the Hawks, Haley received a pass from Woods who stole the ball from a Mercy guard, and rushed down the court to dunk on a Maverick defender. Haley completed the dunk and received a foul on the play.

Read the complete story at UMESHawks.com.

Wildcats Fall short to Central Florida

ORLANDO-Isaiah Sykes hit two free throws with 3.5 seconds left, and Central Florida held off Bethune-Cookman 53-51 on Saturday.

Sykes scored 15 points, including the Knight's final eight. He gave UCF (6-2) its first lead since the opening minutes at 49-48 with 3:04 left and a 51-48 lead with 1:17 remaining.

Bethune-Cookman (3-6) tied it at 51-51 on two Anthony Breeze free throws with 51 seconds remaining and a Kevin Dukes free throw with 6.2 seconds left. Sykes was fouled at mid-court and sank both from the line.

Keith Clanton had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds for UCF, which outscored Bethune-Cookman 20-3 at the line.

Bethune-Cookman led 25-14 on a Dukes 3-pointer with 6:14 remaining in the first half, but UCF closed it to a 28-22 halftime game.

Dukes led the Wildcats with13 points, while Garrius Holloman scored eight of his 12 points in the second half.

To read the complete story, visit BCUAthletics.com.

Howard Gives Strong Effort in Loss to Georgetown

Howard fell behind 17-0 to start the game, rallied to get within two before a late push proved to be the difference as 18^th ranked Georgetown escaped the upset and shook off the upset-minded Bison, 62-48 before 8,120 at the Verizon Center.

Howard (3-6) could get nothing going as the Hoyas bolted out to a 17-0 lead. Using a combination of some suffocating defense and baskets off turnovers, Georgetown took control.

Dadrian Collins' three pointer at the 10:39 mark was the first basket by Howard and it appeared to help settle the young Bison squad as they worked their way back to trail 30-17 at the half. Collins was able to get his team back into the game with eight first half points.

Georgetown (8-1) was able to maintain a double digit deficit before the Bison began to scrap and claw their way back in the game. Howard would go on a 23-12 run over the first 13 minutes to whittle the lead to 42-40 with 7:33 in the second stanza.