State College, Pa – The UMBC men's basketball team dropped a 103-54 decision against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Friday evening at Bryce Jordan Center.

Senior guard Bryce Johnson led the Retrievers (1-1) with 13 points and added three steals, while classmate Marcus Banks Jr. contributed 11 points and paced the squad with seven rebounds and a career-high six assists.

Penn State (2-0) raced out to a 17-4 advantage at the 13:26 mark of the opening half, but the Retrievers went on a 14-7 run to trim the deficit to just 24-18 with 8:35 left in the first stanza. Junior forward Louie Jordan hit a triple, and sophomore guard Ace Valentine converted a driving layup to cap the spurt.

The Nittany Lions answered with a 10-1 run to hold off the Retrievers and took a 34-19 advantage with 4:30 left before the break.  The Lions settled for a 43-28 lead at the half.

The hosts scored 12 of the first 15 points in the second half to extend their lead to 55-31 with just under 15 minutes left, and UMBC never recovered.

Center Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored 18 points and grabbed nine boards to pace the hosts, who had five players in double-digits.

Penn State hit 37-of-67 field goals (56.2 percent), including 10-for-23 (43.5 percent) from long-range.

The Retrievers were held to 29.2 percent shooting as they connected on just 19-of-65 attempts, including 6-for-24 from deep.

UMBC was outrebounded by a 50-35 margin and was outscored 52-20 inside the paint.

UMBC will host Valley Forge on Monday evening.