UMBC

Jersey City, N.J.—Host St. Peter’s utilized a 16-0 early second half run and held off the UMBC Retrievers, 67-56, in the opening game for both squads.

The loss was UMBC’s first in an opener since a setback vs. Pitt to open the 1998-99 season, while St. Peter’s started 1-0 for the first time since the 1999-00 campaign.

The Retrievers trailed for nearly the entire firsr half, but tied the game late in the stanza at 31-all, before St. Peter’s took a 33-31 advantage at intermission. UMBC opened the second half on a 6-0 run on a three-point play by Mike Housman and a three-point field goal by Jay Greene to lead, 37-33 with 17:39 remaining. But the Retrievers would proceed to miss ten consecutive shots and were outscored 16-0 over the next eight minutes. Chris Pugh’s three-point field goal with 9:46 remaining broke the run and a subsequent jumper by Brian Hodges cut the deficit to 49-42 with nine minutes remaining.

St. Peter’s, however, regained its double-digit lead and any comeback hopes by UMBC were dashed when Jay Greene’s open three-point look with 1:23 remaining and down 11 points went awry.

The Retrievers hit just eight of 31 attempts in the second half and were 20 of 61 (32.8%) for the game. Pugh led UMBC with 17 points and Greene added 10 points and six assists. Sophomore post Uwem Eshietedoho was UMBC’s leading rebounder with seven boards, while freshman post Justin Fry had five points and blocked three shots.

St. Peter’s hit 22 of 49 attempts (44.9%), but buried 10 of 20 three-point attempts. Guards Raul Orta and Kevin Spann had 15 each for the Peacocks.

The Retrievers return to action and open the home schedule vs. Loyola on Tuesday at the RAC Arena. The game will be televised live by MASN with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.