BALTIMORE- UMBC junior forward Chase
Plummer (Plainfield, N.J. /St. Patrick) scored 18 points
and added eight rebounds and led a Retriever second-half rally, but
the hosts fell short and dropped a 68-59 decision to Boston
University.
Senior guard Brian
Neller (Red Bank, N.J./Christian Bros. Acad) added 13
points, senior guard Ryan
Cook (Laurel, Md./Pallotti) added 11 and sophomore
guard Joey
Getz (Philadelphia, Pa.) continued his outstanding play
with 10 points.
Boston University freshman guard Maurice Watson scored 17 of his
game-high 19 points in the second half. He also added six assists
as he team only turned the ball over six times in 40 minutes.
The Retrievers came back from a dreadful first half, in which
they hit only 6-of-24 shots from the floor and 3-of-10 from the
free throw line. But the visiting Terriers only held a 28-17 lead
at the break, as they converted only 2-of-14 shots from behind the
arc.
As they have done many times in the past month, the Retrievers
produced a much better second half. They trailed by as many as 12
at 35-23, but went on a 10-3 run, capped by a three-pointer from
Plummer and cut the deficit to 35-31 with 14:56 remaining.
UMBC would get even closer a bit later, cutting the gap to 44-42
with 8:32 to play. But free throw blues hurt the Retrievers even in
that sequence as Neller and Getz each missed one free throw in a
24-second span which would have tied the game.
After a quick 5-0 run by the Terriers, Plummer buried another
trey to keep UMBC to within range at 49-45 and 8:04 to play. But
Watson took over the game, feeding Travis Robinson for a trey that
matched Plummer's and scoring on back-to-back drives to the hoop to
restore the Terrier advantage to 56-46 with 5:18 remaining.
Boston U. (17-11, 11-4 America East) made all six free throw
attempts in the final 47 seconds to seal the victory.
UMBC (6-21, 4-10) outrebounded the Terriers, 36-28, but Boston
U. outscored UMBC, 34-16, in the paint with Watson getting to the
basket repeatedly.
UMBC shot 37.3 percent from the floor, while the visitors hit
26-of-51 attempts and finished at 51.0 percent.
The Retrievers have a pair of regular season games remaining as
they play at Hartford on Feb. 28 and conclude vs. Binghamton at
home on March 3.
