BALTIMORE – UMBC's entire starting five reached double-figures in scoring for the first time this season as the men's basketball team rolled to a 79-62 victory against the Binghamton Bearcats on Thursday evening at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena. UMBC (14-8) improves to 7-2 in the America East Conference and is tied with NJIT for first place with seven games remaining.
Graduate student guard
DJ Armstrong Jr. paced UMBC with 17 points as five of his six field goals came from three-point distance. Graduate student forward
Josh Odunowo recorded 15 points and tied his season-high with eight rebounds. Junior guard
Jah'Likai King (13 points), junior guard
Ace Valentine (12 points, team-high four assists), and junior forward
Jose Roberto Tanchyn (10 points, 11 rebounds) completed the balanced scoring attack. Sophomore forward
Caden Diggs (seven points, eight caroms) played 17 productive minutes off the bench.
The Retrievers, now 9-2 at home, led from start to finish, but the Bearcats managed to hang around for the first 13 minutes of the contest. Leading 21-20, the hosts ripped off seven consecutive points to extend their lead to 28-20 at the 4:07 mark. Armstrong Jr. got things going with a trey, and then Valentine converted back-to-back layups.
Bryson Wilson's free throw narrowed Binghamton's deficit to 30-23 with 2:14 remaining in the half, but the hosts responded with a 9-3 run to lead 39-26 at halftime.
UMBC, who only committed three turnovers, opened the second half with consecutive field goals from Armstrong Jr. and Odunowo to increase its lead to 43-26 at the 18:28 mark.
The hosts stretched their advantage to as many as 21 points on two different occasions, the last coming on a trey by King with 10:45 remaining in the contest.
Binghamton (5-19, 1-8 AE) could never recover, as they could only get as close as 13 points with just under two minutes remaining.
Guard Jeremiah Quigley recorded a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Bearcats while Bryson Wilson added 18 points.
UMBC outscored Binghamton by a 38-18 margin in the paint and did not allow a second chance point.
The Retrievers are off on Saturday and travel to Maine next Thursday evening.
