BALTIMORE – UMBC graduate student guard
DJ Armstrong Jr. scored 20 of his game-high 23 points in the first half as the Retrievers cruised to an impressive 79-56 America East Conference victory against the UMass Lowell River Hawks, Saturday afternoon at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
UMBC (12-7) is now off to a 5-1 start in the conference for the first time since the 2020-2021 season and is tied for the top spot with Vermont, which the Retrievers visit on Thursday evening. The win also snapped a seven-game losing streak against the River Hawks.
Armstrong Jr., who went 5-for-5 from three-point territory in the opening half, finished 7-for-12 overall from the field. The leading long-range artist in the league has now hit at least two treys in 16 of 19 contests this season.
Graduate student
Josh Odunowo, who made his 100th career start, played a tremendous all-around game, producing a season-high 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting. In addition, the power forward went 5-for-5 from the charity stripe and grabbed five boards in 23 minutes of work.
Junior guard
Jah'Likai King (10 points) hit double-digits for the 12th consecutive game while classmate
Jose Roberto Tanchyn garnered a season-high 11 rebounds in 20 minutes.
UMBC frustrated UMass Lowell (8-12, 3-3 AE) all afternoon as they limited the River Hawks to just 37 percent shooting (23-of-62), including 4-for-24 (16.7 percent) from behind the arc. The 57 points tied for the least amount of points that the Retrievers have allowed against a Division I team this season (Delaware State).
The Retrievers, who never trailed, led 13-8 at the 14:09 mark after Odunowo converted consecutive layups. The visitors were within 17-16 after a layup by Austin Green (team-high 14 points) with 11:20 remaining in the stanza, but that was as close as they were able to get for the remainder of the contest.
UMBC went on an 8-2 mini run, capped by a layup by junior forward
Daylon Dickerson (eight points), to extend its lead to 25-18 with 8:17 left. Khalil Farmer hit two free throws with 4:38 left in the half, cutting the Retrievers' lead to 34-30, but the hosts went on a 12-3 burst to take their largest advantage at 46-33 with just under a minute left. Armstrong Jr. buried two triples during the stretch and finished the spurt with a transition layup following a turnover.
The Retrievers, who led 46-35 at the break, extended their lead to 21 points with 12:07 left in the contest as they outscored UMass Lowell by a 14-4 margin to open the stanza. King produced six points to lead the Dawgs during the stretch.
UMBC led by as many as 25 points on three different occasions over the final five minutes of the contest as the River Hawks never made a run.
The Retrievers outscored UMass Lowell by a 15-1 margin off turnovers for the game. UMBC also went a season-best 19-for-20 (95 percent) from the foul line while the visitors were just 6-of-9.
The Dawgs have now outscored their six conference opponents by a 99-42 margin from the foul line this season, an average of 9.5 points per game.
UMBC has now won six of their last seven and improved to 8-2 on its home floor this season.
