Video Highlights
BALTIMORE—UMBC junior guard Brian
Neller (Red Bank, N.J.) led all scorers with 21 points and
paced five teammates in double figures, as the Retrievers posted a
dramatic 83-79 overtime victory over visiting Binghamton.
UMBC snapped a three-game slide and improved to 4-19 and 3-7 in
America East play, while Binghamton (6-17, 3-7) fell for the
seventh consecutive time. The last three losses have
been by a total of 12 points.
Neller was UMBC's America East Player of the Game, while
Binghamton senior forward Moussa Camara earned the honor for the
visitors. Camara, who hit his first six three-point attempts of the
night, finished with 20 points.
The game featured 16 lead changes and seven
ties. Binghamton appeared to win in regulation in
bizarre fashion as UMBC's Chris De La
Rosa, the league's top point guard, lost control of the ball
with 10 seconds left and fouled Binghamton's Greer Wright driving
to the basket. Wright sunk two free throws with 7.3 seconds left to
give the Bearcats a 73-71 advantage.
But UMBC forward Laurence
Jolicoeur (Queens, N.Y.) pumped fake Wright on the other
end, and drew a foul while attempting a three-point
field goal with 1.7 seconds left. Jolicoeur, the league's
fourth-best free throw shooter at 83 percent, made two of three to
send the game to overtime.
UMBC never trailed in the extra session, taking the lead for
good on two free throws by postJustin
Fry (New Bloomfield, Pa.) with 3:03 to play. Fry added a
layup on the next possession to give UMBC a 79-75 lead with 2:16 to
play.
Wright countered with a field goal with 58 seconds left and the
Bearcats had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 12
seconds, but guards Jimmy Gray and Robert Mansell missed shots
inside the paint. Retriever guard Travis
King snared the second rebounds and hit two free throws
with eight 8 seconds to play. After Binghamton's K.J. Brown hit a
driving layup with three seconds left, Jolicoeur buried a pair of
free throws with 1.7 seconds left to provide the final margin of
victory.
UMBC won its seventh decision in eight overtime affairs in eight
seasons of America East play. The Retrievers defeated Hartford,
74-70, in double overtime two weeks ago.
Neller, making his second career start, hit five of ten shots
from behind the arc, in a career-high 40 minutes of action. King
hit six of seven shots from the floor, both three-point attempts
and all three free throw attempts, scoring 17 points in 23
minutes. Freshman post Chase
Plummer (Elizabeth, N.J.) added 12 points, while Fry and
De La Rosa pitching in with 10 apiece.
UMBC led by as many as nine points at 25-16 with 8:37 to play in
the first half, but Binghamton buried seven of its first
10 attempts from behind the arc and trimmed the deficit to 38-36 at
intermission.
The Retrievers built a 48-43 lead early in the second half, but
Binghamton went on a 14-2 run and gained a 57-50 advantage with
10:39 to play. UMBC managed to battle back and tied the
game at 67-all on a King layup with 5:30 remaining.
Binghamton hit 12 of 23 shots from behind the arc (52.2
percent), but just 16 of 40 inside the arc to finish at 44.4
percent for the game. UMBC converted 45.7 percent from the floor
(32 of 70) and committed only seven turnovers.
The win snapped a UMBC five-game losing streak to the
Bearcats.
The Retrievers travel to Maine for a contest with the
second-place Black Bears on Super Bowl Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
