Junior center Jason Johnson recorded his fifth double-double on the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while freshman guard Carrio Bennett also tossed in 16 points, as the Bulldogs of South Carolina State (5-11 overall 1-1 MEAC) posted their first conference win of the season over University of Maryland-Eastern Shore (2-14 overall, 0-2 MEAC) at Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center Monday night.

Leading the way for UMES was freshman forward Denzel Jackson and freshman guard Marc Davis both with 13 points, while junior guard Gary Lee tossed in 12 points in the loss.

The game was close from the start with UMES sparking a 5-1 run, and jumped out to a early six-point lead, 12-6 at the 12:26 mark in the first half. The Bulldogs would then spark their on run with three 3-pointer's by freshman Carrio Bennett which would rally a 12-4 run and give the Bulldogs a 18-16 lead with 9:04 left in the half.

A jumper by Everett Spencer and a lay up by Julius Carter would give SC State a comfortable 27-19 lead with 3:47 left in the half. UMES Marc Davis's jumper would cut the lead to six, 27-21 at the 3:20 mark.

SC State led 31-24 going into the half. The Bulldog's freshman Carrio Bennett led all scores at with 13 points.

The Bulldogs kept dominating the game in the second-half jumping out to a

12 point lead, 48-36 on a 3-pointer by Robert Baker at the 10:04 mark in the game. A dunk by SC State's Jason Johnson would give the Bulldogs it's biggest lead of the night a 15 point lead, 55-40 with 7:39 left in the game.

UMES would rally back and pull within single digits seven, 59-52 on a lay up by Ed Tyson with 2:18 left in the game. Solid free throw shooting and a dunk by Robert Baker with 0:29 seconds left in the game would give SC State a 66-56 lead.

The Bulldogs would go on the claim it's first Mid-Eastern Athletic victory on the season 68-60 over the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

SC State's Robert added 12 points in the win.

SC State will return to action on Saturday as they host conference foe Hampton University. Game time is 12:00 noon for the Women's contest and 3:00 p.m. for the Men's game, which will be televised, live on ESPNU.

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