Cleveland, Miss. -- The Hawks fell to Delta State, 93-85, to bow out of the Gulf South Conference tournament in the quarterfinals.

Shorter finishes the year at 17-12; while the Statesmen advance to the GSC semifinals with a record of 22-7.

Five Hawks finished in double figures with Phil Taylor leading the effort with 26 points; while Damerit Brown added 23, Mike Wickliff chipped in with 12, and both Eric Ross and Alijah Bennett added 10. Ross tallied his 15th double-double of the year with 13 rebounds.

After trading the lead for much of the first ten minutes of the first half, the Hawks pulled away on a 13-3 run midway through the first to take their largest lead of the night, 34-25, on a jumper from Bennett. Only to have the Statesmen use an 11-2 run to tie the game 36-36 with 2:32 remaining in the half.

Down the stretch the teams traded baskets with the Hawks holding a slim, 43-42, lead advantage at the half thanks to a pair of free throws from Brown.

In the second half, Taylor netted a layup to put the Hawks ahead 56-55 with 15:18 to play. But, from there Delta State tallied an 11-2 run to make it an eight point game (66-58) when Devin Schmidt converted a layup on a fast break with 12:36 to play, and from there never trailed.

Shorter cut the lead to two (70-68) on a three from Brown with 8:20 to go to cap off a 12-2 run, but that was as close as the Hawks would get as the Statesmen held on for the 93-85 win.

Shorter shot 47.6% from the field, going 30-63 on the night; while 13-26 from beyond the arc and 12-13 from the line. Delta State was led by Schmidt's 32 points; while shooting just under 53% for the game, but only 21% from three-point range.