UMBC

Baltimore, MD—Freshman guard John Iati scored a game-high 22 points as visiting Albany (4-16, 2-9 AEC) snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 64-60 victory over slumping UMBC (6-14, 3-3 AEC).

The Great Danes led nearly the entire way, as Iati staked them to a 6-0 with a pair of three-point goals on the first two possessions of the game. UMBC would claw back at tie the score at 22-all on a field goal by Rob Gogerty with 4:10 remaining in the half, but after the teams exchanged baskets, Iati scored seven points in a 9-3 run which closed the half and gave Albany a 33-27 halftime advantage.

Albany extended the lead to as many as 13 points early in the second half, at 41-28 at the 16:49 mark, and still maintained a comfortable 58-47 advantage with 3:10 to play. But UMBC’s Kareem Washington hit a pair of three-pointers to spark a 10-1 run which cut the gap to 59-57 with 1:01 to play. On the next possession, UMBC’s John Zito fouled Albany’s Jerrad Knotts 40 feet from the basket with 16 seconds left on the shot clock and Knotts hit a pair of shots with 39 seconds to play to extend the lead back to four points. Zito made one of two free throws on the next possession, but Albany made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the victory.

Iati came within one point of his season high, as the freshman guard played all 40 minutes. Forwards Aquawasi St. Hillaire and Levi Levine added 12 and 10 points respectively for the Great Danes. Washington led UMBC with 13 points. Albany hit 16 of 21 free throw attempts in the game, while UMBC made just 15 of 27, and the Retrievers hit below 40% from the field for the fifth time in the last six games, making just 21 of 54 shots.