Men's Hoops Seeks Season Sweep of UAlbany on Saturday at The Peak

Guard Dion Brown scored a game-high 22 points and broke the program's single-season sophomore scoring record as the Retrievers defeated the Binghamton Bearcats, 89-78, on Thursday evening at the Events Center. Brown (game-high 12 rebounds), who recorded his sixth double-double of the season, made 9-of-15 shots from the floor. He now has 495 points on the season, which broke the mark set by Jairus Llyles in 2015-2016. Sophomore forward Regimantas Ciunys recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 boards.
It's been a breakout season for Brown. The two-time AE Player of the Week can join seven players in UMBC history with 500 points in a season and just three have hit the 600-point mark.
Brown's 19.0 points per game is currently the sixth-highest single-season average in Retrievers' history (Jairus Lyles, 23.0). His 190 rebounds is currently the sixth-most by a sophomore and only four players have gone over 200.
Brown is currently on pace to score over 1,400 career points and grab 500 rebounds. Only three UMBC players (Rick Moreland '83, John Goedeke '79 and Reggie Nance '81) have ever accomplished that feat.

WHO'S HOT

Brown is shooting 55 percent (83-151) over his last nine contests. He's also 16-36 (45 percent) from deep over that time. His 22.6 ppg. in AE games now leads the league and he's third in rebounding at 9.5 pg. In addition, Brown leads the circuit in 3-point field goal percentage (.440). His 70 offensive rebounds is also an overall league-high this season. Brown has produced 20 or more points in five straight games and is averaging 27.0 ppg. during the span.
Junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. is second (2.6) in the AE in 3-pt field goals per game and is 5th in 3-pt accuracy (35.4). He's averaging 18.4 ppg. in conference contests, which ranks 7th in the league. He's also averaging a league-best 3.2 treys per game in AE contests.
Graduate student forward Max Lorca-Lloyd is tied for tops in the league with 2.3 blocks per game and is 15th in rebounding (5.4 pg.). He's averaged 8.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in AE play.
FR guard Franck Emmou has shot the ball extremely well in his first season in Baltimore. Emmou, who recently scored a career-high 24 points at UAlbany, is 28-for-51 (.549) from 3-point territory and is 36-for-412 (.857) from the foul line this season. He's 59-for-117 (.504) from the field overall. Emmou is a spectacular 15-for-22 (.682) from deep in conference play and is netting 8.9 ppg.
Ciunys has seized on his opportunity over the past three games as he's averaged 9.8 points, 7.0 rebounds in just over 21.5 minutes off the bench.

A GLANCE AT THE GREAT DANES

UALbany cruised to an 83-58 victory at NJIT on Thursday. Sebastion Thomas narrowly missed a triple-double, finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists.
Thomas is fourth in the AE in scoring (17.8 ppg.) and is third in assists (5.2 ppg.). Marshall is 5th in the league in scoring at 17.3 ppg.
Jonathan Beagle leads the circuit with 9.5 rebounds per game.
The Great Danes were picked 7th in the AE preseason poll.

INSIDE THE SERIES

UMBC is 16-29 all-time against UAlbany.
The Retrievers have won six of the last eight contests.
The Dawgs exploded for a 114-102 victory on Feb. 3. Dion Brown scored 29 points and Franck Emmou had a career-best 24.
The point total is the most the Retrievers have ever scored against a Division I opponent in regulation. In addition, the Dawgs set a program-high for a half with 69 points in the second stanza.