Orono, Maine – The UMBC men's basketball team provided Retrievers' head coach
Jim Ferry with his 400th career victory after a dominant, 78-62, America East victory against the Maine Black Bears on Thursday evening at Memorial Gymnasium. UMBC and NJIT are still tied in the loss column with only two defeats in the conference. The Dawgs are off to their best start in the league since the 2017-2018 championship season.
Junior guard
Ace Valentine scored 16 points (8-for-11 shooting) and grabbed eight rebounds to lead four Retrievers in double-figures in points. Sophomore forward
Caden Diggs came off the bench to score 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting in just 22 minutes. Graduate student forward
Josh Odunowo recorded 12 points and eight rebounds while junior forward
Jose Roberto Tanchyn added 11 points. Graduate student guard
DJ Armstrong Jr. and freshman forward
Riley Jacobs contributed nine points apiece.
The Retrievers, who improve to 15-8 (8-2 AE), played a tremendous game on the defensive end, holding Maine (6-20, 4-7 AE) to just 37.3 percent (19-for-51) from the floor.
UMBC struggled from behind the arc, making only 3-of-17 attempts, but still finished with a solid 45.2 percent field goal percentage and were a terrific 19-for-22 (86.4 percent) from the free throw stripe.
The Retrievers dominated the boards as they held a 43-29 advantage and won the battle of the paint, outscoring the hosts by a 42-24 margin.
UMBC led 37-24 at halftime despite falling behind 9-4 at the first media timeout. Valentine, who is fifth in the league in field goal percentage in conference games, put the visitors ahead for good, 12-11, with a reverse layup at the 12:06 mark. The lead grew to 24-13 with 7:02 left, completing a 20-4 run that turned the game.
The Retrievers continued to apply the pressure in the second half as they built a 43-26 edge after Valentine scored UMBC's first six points of the stanza. Maine closed within 12, 43-31, with 16:32 remaining, but UMBC went on an 11-2 burst to take a commanding 54-33 lead with 12:42 left. UMBC led by as many as 26 points with 6:19 left in the contest.
TJ Biel paced the Black Bears with 23 points and six boards.
The Retrievers,winners of three straight, broke a three-game road losing streak against Maine and swept the season series.
Ferry, now in his fifth season in Baltimore, is the first coach in program history to win 400 career games.
UMBC travels to New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
