UMBC

Baltimore, Md.—Five UMBC players scored in double figures, including three that produced career highs as the Retrievers (2-3) survived a furious Delaware rally and defeated the Blue Hens (2-4), 85-84, in a frenetic game at the RAC Arena.

In its 1000^th varsity men’s basketball game, UMBC snapped a three-game losing streak, while Delaware has now dropped four in a row.

UMBC, playing without its leading scorer and rebounder, senior forward John Zito (15.0 ppg, 7.5 rpg, sprained ankle), blazed the nets at nearly a record pace, hitting 14 of 19 shots (73.7%) from the field in the second half and 30 of 48 (62.5%) for the game. Then built a 77-67 lead with 2:13 to play on a Tom Young layup. But Delaware forced five UMBC turnovers in the final 1:25, although the Retrievers still led, 85-80 after senior forward Jerrell Dinkins hit two free throws with 21 seconds to play.

Delaware’s Rulon Washington equaled Dinkins’ two shots five seconds later, and teammate Henry Olawoye converted a Calvin Cannon steal on the ensuing inbounds pass to trim the gap to 85-84. UMBC freshman guard Jay Greene was tied up along the sideline on the Retrievers’ next inbounds play, giving Delaware the ball on the alternating possession with seven ticks left. Blue Hen guard Andrew Washington beat his man to the basket off the dribble, but his layup was too strong and Dinkins grabbed the final rebound for UMBC.

Dinkins led UMBC with 19 points, besting the career high of 13 he had set two games ago at Towson. Juniors Chris Pugh and Mike Housman were perfect from the field, as Pugh hit 5 of 5 shots in a 17-point, career-best effort, and Housman, who replaced Zito in the starting lineup, hit all eight of his field goal attempts for a career high 16 points.  

“I had some big shoes to fill in John Zito,” said Housman., who added five assists, four blocks, four rebounds and two steals. “He was the [America East] Player of the Week in the first week and that’s a lot of scoring to pick up. I just played within the offense as Coach tells us to, and I was lucky enough to get the opportunities that I had. I was privileged to be out there with those guys tonight.”

Sophomore guard Brian Hodges added 15 points, while Young added a season high 11. The Retrievers got only 12 minutes from a player taller than 6’6”.

Delaware led most of the first half, and held a 39-31 advantage with 3:51 remaining in the half. But UMBC would go on a run of 25-8 over the next ten minutes, hitting 11 of 13 shots and built a 56-47 advantage with 14:04 remaining.

“Teams will get hit throughout the year with adverse situations,” said Coach Monroe. “What I needed to know from the team was, ‘How are we going to handle this? Are we going to say, ‘Well, we don’t have John tonight so we might as well cash this game in,’ or are we going to step up to the plate, embrace the challenge and go out and play the best that we can?’ I think the team proved tonight that they came out and played as hard as they humanly could, and as a result came up with a hard-fought win.”