Brian
Neller is now 14-of-31 from behind the arc over the last four
games. |
BALTIMORE- UMBC jumped out to a 20-0 lead in the first nine
minutes of play and went on to throttle Hartford, 70-57, at the RAC
Arena.
The Retrievers won their second consecutive home game and
improved to 2-3 in America East and 4-14 overall. After starting
out league play at 3-0, Hartford slipped to 3-2, 10-8.
Senior guard Ryan
Cook (Laurel, Md./Pallotti) led the Retrievers with 16
points, but senior guard Brian Neller (Red Bank,
N.J./Christian Bros. Acad.) earned America East Player of the Game
honors by hitting 5-of-10 shots from behind the arc and tying a
season-best with 15 points.
Hartford sophomore forward Mark Nwakamma led all scorers with 21
points and Hawk America East Player of the Game Yolonzo Moore II
added 19.
The Hawks misfired on their first 17 field goal attempts of the
game as they Retrievers were steadily building the lead. Nwakamma
halted the 20-0 run to start the game with by hitting the second of
two free throws with 9:13 to play in the first half. The
Retrievers led, 25-3, before a Nwakamma dunk accounted for the
first Hawk field goal with 6:16 to play in the stanza.
UMBC led, 32-12, at the half, as they converted on 13-of-27 from
the field, while Hartford missed on 26 of 29 attempts.
Hartford would chip away throughout the second half, but only
came as close as 62-50 on a Nwakamma layup with 4:25 remaining. But
the Retrievers would recover defensively to force five consecutive
empty Hawk possessions and scored eight consecutive points to build
a comfortable 70-50 lead with 2:40 to play.
UMBC was outstanding behind the arc, hitting 9-of-17 shots
(52.9%), while Hartford missed its first 18 attempts overall and
finished at 6-of-30.
UMBC senior forward Adrian
Satchell (Windsor, Conn./Windsor) led all players by
garnering a season-best 11 rebounds. Junior
forward Chase
Plummer (Plainfield, N.J./St. Patrick) added 12 points for
the Retrievers.
Neller is now 14-of-31 (45.2%) from behind the arc over his last
four outings.
UMBC has the weekend off before hosting league-leading Stony
Brook on Wed., Jan. 23.
