BALTIMORE—Reigning America East Conference Player of the
Week Troy Barnies scored 25 points and added 13 rebounds as
visiting Maine defeated UMBC, 82-67, in a league contest at the RAC
Arena.
UMBC guard Chris De La
Rosa (Washington Heights, N.Y.) led the hosts with 24
points and led all players with eight assists. It was
the junior's seventh straight game in double figures and fifth game
of 20 or more points in a contest this season.
Barnies and De La Rosa were their team's America East Players of
the Game. Barnies hit 9-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-7
from the charity stripe. De La Rosa hit 9-of-15 from the floor and
committed only one turnover in 39 minutes of action.
Maine (8-7, 2-1 America East) hit 29 of 54 shots (53.7 percent)
from the field, including 20 of 30 shots from inside the arc. The
Black Bears outrebounded UMBC, 39-25, and held a large 24-10 edge
in second-chance points.
In a sign of things to come, the Black Bears took the lead for
good on a Barnies layup to put the visitors ahead, 12-11 at the
14:06 mark when UMBC failed to rebound a missed Maine three-point
attempt.
UMBC (1-14, 0-2) hung in there in the first 20 minutes, trailing
38-33 at intermission. It was UMBC's smallest deficit at
intermission in seven games.
Back-to-back scores by UMBC in the second half cut the deficit
to 41-37, but Maine's Raheem Singleton hit five consecutive points
to spark a 14-6 run and give the visitors a 55-43 advantage with
12:34 remaining. UMBC did not close within single digits
the rest of the way.
Guards Gerald McLemore (16 points), Singleton (15 points) and
Terrance Mitchell (14 points) were the three other Black Bears to
score in double figures.
Freshman forward Chase
Plummer (Elizabeth, N.J.) scored 13 points for UMBC.
De La Rosa surpassed the 300-assist plateau in his career and
the 12th-leading distributor in the nation has 98 in 15
games this season.
UMBC will play four of its next five America East games on the
road, beginning with a Jan. 12 contest at Binghamton.
