UMES Closes Door Late On Howard

The UMES Men’s basketball team found a way to hold on late against Howard Monday night to pull out a 71-60 win. The win improves the hawks to 15-13 overall and 8-5 in MEAC play.

The Bison would jump out to a quick lead, scoring the games first 8 points. From there though, the Hawks would settle down led by Devin Martin. The senior would score on a drive to the paint, then follow it with a three ball from the left wing to get his team back within 3. That would be just the start of this big night as he finished with a team high 23 points to go along with 7 rebounds. The teams would exchange blows from there. The Hawks would dictate the tempo by running a full court press the entire game to try and take the Bison out of their comfort zone. 

UMES would take a 36-28 lead into the locker room, and would come out of the half on a nice run led by Mike Myers. The senior would work his way to the charity line 16 times on the night, connecting on 14 of them as he applied pressure to Howards front line every minute he was on the floor. The Bison though would fight their way back. They would go on a 9-0 run half way through the second half, and would eventually even come back to take a 1 point lead. But UMES would find a way to close the door. Myers would score two free throws followed by Martin banging home three to give the Hawks a 6 point lead with a 1:30 left. Then off a side out of bounds play, Martin would get to the cup for a lay in to push the lead to 8. The Hawks would finish the game with back to back scores from Myers including a thunderous one handed slam. 

Martin led the way with 23 points and 7 rebounds, while Myers added 22 points and 3 boards, Ishaq Pitt chipped in 2 points, 6 rebounds and 8 assists and Ryan Andino finished in double figures with 11 points.

UMES returns to the court Saturday when they travel to South Carolina St.