Senior Michael Myers continues to pace UMES' scoring, but the 6-foot-9, 245-pound forward has been getting some help during the team's recent surge.
A trio of guards -- junior Devin Martin, senior Devon Walker and freshman Ryan Andino -- have contributed to the Hawks' 4-1 stretch.
The 6-4, 205-pound Martin, a Baltimore resident who went to high school in Washington, D.C., and Florida, has averaged 15.2 points and 5.4 rebounds over that span, scoring at least 10 points in four games.
The 6-4, 215-pound Walker has averaged 10.4 points and scored 12 or more points in three games, while the 6-2, 175-pound Andino has averaged 8.0 points and scored at least seven points in three games.
The emergence of the three perimeter shooters has helped alleviate some of the scoring burden on Myers and forced opposing defenses to play more honestly, coach Bobby Collins said Monday.
"That makes us very dangerous," he said. "Any time you have a big man inside that is an inside presence, you have to surround him with shooters so that he can work. If you double-team him, he doesn't mind kicking it out to the shooters, and he's done a very good job of that. … We're surrounding him with three shooters, and you've got to pick your poison."
Those performances have helped UMES produce more offensively. In the last five games, the team has averaged 65.0 points, a 48.7 field-goal percentage, a 46.6 3-point percentage and 14.4 assists. For the season, the Hawks has averaged 59.8 points, a 43.1 field-goal percentage, a 37.4 3-point percentage and 12.8 assists.
Collins said the change in offensive production can be traced to the coaching staff pinpointing the players' strengths.
"We understand our team a little better," he said. "Before, we were walking the ball up the court and just running our half-court offensive sets, but teams started pressing us and doing different things to us. So when they pressed us, we had to fight back. There are no sets. You have to be ready to execute and make a play. Since they've done those things, we've been able to execute and knock down some shots.
"In the second half, we've been able to knock down our free throws and get the ball inside to our big man. He's been delivering, and we've been taking more quality shots. When you press, you're going to leave one of the three shooters I have on the floor open, and those guys have just been knocking down shots. So it's just pick your poison."