BALTIMORE- The Albany Great Danes improved to 9-2 on the road
this season with a 79-56 victory over UMBC at the RAC Arena.
UMBC junior forward Chase
Plummer (Plainfield, N.J./St. Patrick) led all scorers
with 15 points, while senior guard Brian
Neller (Red Bank, N.J./Christian Bros. Acad.) added
12. Neller hit four 3-point field goals, moving him into
fourth place on UMBC's all-time list with 232.
Albany (7-4 America East, 18-7) senior guard Jacob Iati led a
balanced attack with 14 points, scoring all 14 after halftime.
UMBC struggled from the start, misfiring on 22 of first 26
attempts from the floor. However, Neller drained back-to-back
threes in a span of 31 seconds and brought the hosts to within,
33-19, with 1:06 to play in the first stanza.
Albany led, 36-19, at the break. After the Retrievers scored the
first field goal of the second half, Iati hit back-to-back treys to
spark a 17-2 run and put the game out of reach.
The Great Danes hit 30-of-55 shots for the contest (54.5%)
against a much smaller UMBC squad. The Retrievers improved from
21.4 percent in the first 20 minutes to nearly 50 percent in the
final 20 and finished at 21-of-59 (35.6%) for the contest.
UMBC (4-6, 6-17) had its modest two-game winning streak halted
and they fell to 5-6 at RAC Arena.
Neller moved past Skip Saunders (1990-94) into fourth place on
UMBC's long-distance list. He is eight behind current assistant
coach Jay Greene, who is currently in third place with 240.
Plummer hit 6-of-11 shots from the floor and is now 28-of-46
(60.9%) from the field in his last four outings. He has scored in
double figures in nine consecutive contests.
UMBC completes a three-game homestand when they welcome Vermont
to the RAC Arena for a Saturday matinee. Tip-off time in the back
end of a doubleheader is set for 3:30 p.m.
