PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – The Hampton University men's basketball withstood a late rally from Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center before escaping with a 63-59 bounce-back win.

The Pirates (11-14, 8-4 MEAC) have won six of their last seven games.

Sophomore center Emmanuel Okoroba (Garland, Texas) led the Pirates with 13 points on 6-for-7 shooting, while freshman guard Deron Powers (Williamsburg, Va.) added 12 points and a team-high six assists.

Freshman guard Ke'Ron Brown (Savannah, Ga.) had a team-high seven rebounds.

Okoroba gave the Pirates a 57-47 lead with 2:47 to play after converting a 3-point play, but the Hawks answered with a 9-0 run, cutting that lead to 57-56 with 1:00 left after a fastbreak layup from Troy Snyder.

Powers hit two free throws with 22 seconds left to put Hampton up 59-56, before redshirt-freshman guard Dwight Meikle (Baltimore, Md.) sank a fastbreak layup with 10 seconds to go to give the Pirates a 61-56 lead. Powers added two more free throws with four seconds left to cap a 6-0 Pirates run and give Hampton a 63-56 lead.

Dominique Cowell hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds, but the Pirates held on for the win.

The Pirates led 10-5 early after junior guard/forward Du'Vaughn Maxwell (Manhattan, N.Y..), the reigning MEAC Player of the Week, hit a jumper in the paint with 14:42 left in the first half. Meikle added a jumper at the 10:56 mark to give Hampton an 18-7 lead.

UMES answered with a 10-2 run, cutting the lead to 20-17 after Snyder hit a pair of free throws, but the Pirates closed the half on a 10-5 spurt taking a 30-22 lead into the locker room after freshman guard Reggie Price (Charlotte, N.C.) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The Pirates shot 60.8 percent (14-for-23) from the floor in the first half.

Kevin Mays cut Hampton's lead to 36-33 with a tip-in with 13:17 left in the second half, but the Pirates responded by going on a 14-6 run to take a 50-39 lead with 6:47 to play after a Maxwell jumper.

From there, the two teams were relatively back-and-forth before Okoroba's basket with 2:47 left.

The Pirates shot a season-best 55.1 percent (27-for-49) from the floor. Despite making just two of their nine 3-point attempts, the Pirates went 7-for-9 (77.8 percent) from the free throw line. Hampton held a 34-28 edge in points in the paint, and the Pirates scored 22 points off of 17 UMES turnovers.

Both teams had 28 rebounds.

UMES (2-21, 2-10 MEAC) shot 43.1 percent (22-for-51) from the floor and hit five of its 12 3-pointers (41.7 percent). The Hawks shot 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe.

Snyder led UMES with 17 points, while Mays added 15.

The Pirates will return to action on Saturday, when they take on Saint Peter's at the HU Convocation Center at 2 p.m. as part of ESPN Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.