Durham, NH – The UMBC men's basketball team scored the first 16 points of the contest and never looked back in a dominant, 85-63, America East Conference victory over the New Hampshire Wildcats on Saturday afternoon at Lundholm Gymnasium. UMBC (16-8, 9-2 AE) and NJIT remain even in the loss column for first place in the league standings pending the Highlanders result later today.
Junior guard
Jah'Likai King and graduate student guard
DJ Armstrong Jr. (3 assists, 3 steals) led five Retrievers in double-figures with 17 points apiece. Sophomore forward
Caden Diggs (15 points), graduate student forward
Josh Odunowo (12 points), and sophomore guard
Ace Valentine (10 points) provided a balanced scoring effort. Junior forward
Jose Roberto Tanchyn grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds along with a team-high four assists.
UMBC, off to its best start in the conference since the 2017-18 season, blitzed the Wildcats in the opening half as they held a 47-28 advantage at intermission. The Retrievers made 15-of-26 field goal attempts for a 57.7 percent clip and swished all 12 of their free throw attempts.
The Dawgs, winners of four straight, held a 16-0 advantage after Armstrong Jr. hit the first of his three treys of the day at the 14:09 mark. UMBC continued to apply the pressure as they extended the lead to 27-7 following a jumper by Armstrong Jr. with 10:41 left in the stanza.
New Hampshire (8-16, 4-7 AE) went on their only run of the period as it used a 17-4 burst to trim the deficit to 31-24 at the 6:40 mark. However, King and Diggs splashed consecutive triples to ignite a 12-0 stretch over the next 3:40, resulting in a 43-24 lead. King scored seven points during the run.
The Retrievers left no doubt as they scored the first eight points of the second half to widen their lead to 55-28 with 17:09 remaining. King opened the scoring with a jumper, and Armstrong Jr. buried back-to-back 3-pointers to account for the scoring.
UMBC held its largest lead of the game at the 14:33 mark, 62-33, after Diggs converted a jumper following a turnover. The Retrievers matched their largest lead on three other occasions, the last one coming with 6:50 remaining after a layup by Odunowo.
The Retrievers held the Wildcats to 38.2 percent shooting (21-for-55), and the hosts went just 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) from behind the arc.
UMBC finished with a 51.7 percent shooting clip overall, making 30-of-58 attempts. The Dawgs also made 16-of-19 free throws for an 84.2 percent rate.
R.J. Kennedy led the Wildcats with 15 points while Belal El Shakery grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds.
UMBC, which swept the season series with New Hampshire, will host Vermont for hockey jersey giveaway night on Thursday evening.
