ORANGEBURG, SC— Senior forward Ian Kinard tossed in a team-high 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead South Carolina State to an, 68-53, victory over Maryland Eastern Shore Monday (Jan. 20^th) at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center.

South Carolina State improves to 9
-8 overall, 4-1 in the MEAC, while UMES falls to 2-18 and 1-4 in the league. The Bulldogs move into 2^nd place in league standings behind leader Norfolk State.

"First off I am super proud of our guys and the way we played as a team tonight," said head coach Murray Garvin. When Applewhite went out the game in the first half with a minor injury. It seemed like our guys went to another level without one of our main leaders."
 
"That is a great sign of a well-rounded team and the win puts us at 9-8 on the year and it has been a long time since we have been over 500 at this time of year," noted Garvin.  I am extremely happy to have the coaching staff that we have, and our program keeps persevering. UMES is a very well-coached team and their record doesn't indicate their talent level. Their post guy Cheeseman is very good and gave us some problems in the paint."
 
The Bulldogs had four players to finish with double figures including senior guard Zach Sellers with 11 points and four assists and Damani Applewhite and Tashombe Riley finished with 10 each respectively.

South Carolina State dominated in several categories including points in the paint (32-28), points off turnovers (21-8) and bench points 35-23.

Next up South Carolina State travels to Norfolk to take on Norfolk State in and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference doubleheader, beginning with the women at 4 p.m. and the men in a 6:30 p.m. start.