BALTIMORE—UMBC rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit
and cut visiting Stony Brook's lead to one point on two occasions,
but could not completed the comeback and fell, 64-56 to the
Seawolves in the America East Conference opener for both teams.
UMBC (1-13, 0-1) junior guard Chris De La
Rosa (Washington Heights, N.Y./All Hallows/Siena) was the
America East Player of the Game for the hosts, leading the
Retrievers with 16 points and adding eight assists and six
rebounds.
Stony Brook (6-6, 0-1) sophomore guard Marcus Rouse tied a
career high and led all scorers with 17 points and was the
Seawolves' America East Player of the Game.
The Retrievers trailed by 16 at in the first half at home for
the second consecutive game. They were able to rally to defeat
Niagara, 68-67, on Thursday, but could not overcome 35 percent
shooting in the league lid-lifter.
UMBC trailed, 34-18 before De La Rosa hit a trey at the first
half horn to send his team into the locker room trailing by
13. Guard Travis
King (New Haven, Conn./New Hyde Leadership/George
Washington) hit a pair of treys to spark UMBC's 19-7 opening to the
second half and cut the deficit to 41-40 with 11:20 to play.
Stony Brook rebuilt the lead to 49-43, but back-to-back driving
layups by De La Rosa brought UMB C to within a bucket. After SBU's
Dave Coley banked in a short jumper, De La Rosa fed freshman
wing Jamar
Wertz (Suffolk, Va./King's Fork), who rained in a trey
from the right baseline and UMBC trailed, 51-50, with 3:53 to
play.
But the Seawolves' Danny Carter, who scored all 10 of his points
in the second half, matched Wertz' trey, hitting from the top of
the key at the very end of the shot clock and UMBC would never get
the ball in a one-possession game thereafter.
De La Rosa's trifecta with 22 seconds remaining got UMBC to
within 60-56, but Stony Brook hit four consecutive free throws in
one-and-one situations to hold off the Retrievers.
UMBC misfired on 22 of its first 29 attempts from the floor in
the game and managed to climb to just 35 percent (21 of 60) from
the floor in the contest.
Wertz was UMBC's lone 50 percent shooter for the game, hitting
4-of-8 in a 10-point effort.
The defending America East regular season champions improved to
10-8 vs. UMBC and have won the last five meetings.
UMBC has an early bye in league play and will entertain Maine on
Saturday, Jan. 8 at 2:00 p.m.
