Williamsburg, Va. – The UMBC men's basketball team held a one-point halftime lead at William & Mary but eventually dropped a 96-81 decision against the Tribe on Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Arena.
UMBC graduate student forward
Khydarius Smith scored 20 points to pace four Retrievers in double-figures. Smith converted 8-of-11 field goal attempts and was 4-for-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard
Dion Brown scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half and added a pair of steals. Junior guards
Devan Sapp (15 points) and
Marcus Banks Jr. (15 points, 5 assists) combined for nine three-point field goals with Sapp making a career high five treys. Junior forward
Marlon Short garnered a season high seven caroms.
The Retrievers got off to a good start as they took a 12-3 lead at the 16:08 mark after an outside jumper by Smith. The Tribe responded with 11 straight points to move ahead with 12:57 left as forward Caleb Dorsey ignited the stretch with back-to-back triples.
UMBC (3-4) still trailed by as many as four points at 33-29 with 5:04 left in the opening stanza but managed to go on an 8-4 spurt to get even at 37-37 with 2:10 left. Sapp would give the Retrievers a 42-39 edge with his fourth trifecta of the half with 39 ticks remaining and the visitors settled for a 42-41 halftime advantage.
William & Mary (3-4) opened the second half by hitting eight of their first nine field goal attempts and took a double-digit lead of 58-48 at the 15:11 mark.
The Tribe's lead widened to 69-54 when guard Charlie Williams converted a turnover into a layup with 9:21 on the clock.
The Retrievers managed to get the game back to single-digits when Banks drilled a triple and then knocked down three free throws to make it 81-73 at the 3:50 mark. It capped an 8-0 run for UMBC after the fell behind by an 81-65 margin.
William & Mary, however, responded with a 10-2 burst to put the game out of reach at 91-75 with just over two minutes remaining in the contest.
Dorsey scored a game-high 27 points on 8-of-15 shooting and hit 6-of-12 attempts from behind the arc. Guard Chase Lowe recorded 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Trey Moss (17 pts) and Williams (15 pts, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) were also in double-figures.
The hosts shot 55.6 percent overall (35-of-63) and were even better in the final half as they made 19-of-28 attempts for a 67.9 percent clip. The Tribe made 9-of-25 treys (36 percent) and were 17-for-22 (77 percent) from the charity stripe.
UMBC went 31-of-64 (48.4 percent) overall from the floor, hit 10-of-27 3-pointers (37 percent) and were 9-for-11 (82 percent) from the foul line.
William & Mary, who outrebounded UMBC by a 35-30 margin, won the battle of the paint as they outscored UMBC by a 48-30 total.
The Retrievers will continue their road trip at Hampton on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
