WINSTON-SALEM, NC—The third-seed South Carolina State Bulldogs will open up play against the sixth-seed University of Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks Thursday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Tournament held at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, NC.

      Coach Tim Carter's Bulldogs (16-13 overall, 10-6 MEAC) finished the regular season third behind Delaware State and top-ranked Morgan State. SC State suffered a heartbreaking 61-59 season-finale loss to Winston-Salem State on last week.  Meanwhile, UMES advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament with a 71-69 victory over Coppin State in the opening round Wednesday.

        The Bulldogs are led by their All-MEAC captain Jason Flagler the leader of this team since his freshman year and is currently ranked among the MEAC leader's averaging14.9 ppg and 5.4 rebounds per contest. JUCO transfer Darnell Porter from Fullerton College is second in scoring (13.3). Senior Forward ArsenioWilliams gives the team that extra boost from the bench averaging 8.4 points and 5.3 rebounds on the season.

         Freshman point guard Khalif Toombs is the floor general averaging 6.3 ppg along with 102 assists on the season. Toombs also earned postseason honors along with senior Jason Flagler being named to the All-Rookie Team, while Flagler claimed First-Team All-MEAC accolades.

       UMES is led in scoring by Hillary Haley with 12.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Tim Burns is second on the team in scoring with 11.8. Also giving the Hawks that extra lift is Kevin White with 9.0 points per contest and Neal Pitt with 7.9. Pitt also leads the team in rebounding with 6.2 boards per game.

The winner of this game will advance to the semifinal game Friday and face the winner between No. 7 Bethune-Cookman/No.2 Delaware State in an 8 p.m. showdown.

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