Box Score Video Highlights
BALTIMORE-- Senior Daniel Akin (London, England) led a quartet of Retrievers in double figures with a career-high 19 points and nine rebounds. L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary) poured in 20 points as eight different Retrievers scored in the win.
UMBC wins their second straight to move to 2-1 on the year while the Colonials drop to 1-3.
In addition to Owens and Akin, Brandon Horvath (West River, Md./Southern) and R.J. Eytle-Rock (London, England) added 17 and 18 respectively with Horvath dishing out a career-high six assists.
James Bishop tied Owens with a game-high 20 points with Jamison Battle (19), Maceo Jack (17), and Matthew Moyer (10) also hitting double figures.
The Retrievers finished shooting 63 percent from the floor and 48 percent from three. UMBC assisted on 20 of their 35 field goals with eight different players scoring in the contest.
Both teams battled back and forth in the early going with neither team leading by more than two through the first four minutes. The Retrievers put together a seven-point advantage thanks to a 10-2 run. Akin had a dunk that sparked the run with Horvath and Eytle-Rock each adding to the spurt.
That lead would climb to as many as 13 late with a late layup from Akin giving UMBC a 43-32 lead at the break. Both Eytle-Rock and Owens had 11 points in the opening 20 minutes as UMBC shot a blistering 57 percent from the floor, assisting on 12 of 17 made field goals.
UMBC continued the pace early in the second half pushing their lead out to 25 just three minutes in. The Retrievers would continue to keep a big lead until the Colonial offense woke up. GW chipped away and got the lead to just single digits and as little as two with under a minute to go.
Akin responded following a timeout with a big bucket and then a pair of free throws to increase the lead back to six. The Retrievers would not give up a point over the final minute of play, going 5-6 down the stretch to hold on for a 92-81 win.
UMBC is back at it tomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 8 when they host Delaware in a makeup game from last week. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN 3.
