UMBC

Milwaukee, Wisc.—Missing its two leading scorers, the UMBC men’s basketball team (4-7) struggled through the first 20 minutes and fell to 20^th-ranked Marquette (10-2), 68-46 before an announced crowd of 12, 876 at the Bradley Center.

The Retrievers played the game without the services of their top two scorers, junior reserve guard Brian Hodges and sophomore guard Jay Greene. Hodges served a one-game suspension for violation of a team rule. Hodges, the reigning America East Conference Player of the Week, received an unsportsmanlike technical foul in the second half of Tuesday’s game at George Washington.  Greene, the conference’s league-leader in assists, suffered a sprained knee ligament vs. the Colonials and was unable to play. Only six Retrievers saw action in the game, and senior guard Chris Pugh and freshman forward Justin Fry played all 40 minutes.

Both teams started sluggishly as Marquette led,, 6-4, six and a half minutes into the game. But the Golden Eagles began to capitalize on UMBC turnovers for uncontested baskets and outscored UMBC, 24-4, over the next ten minutes. The Retrievers committed 13 first half give-aways leading to 17 Marquette points as the hosts built a 36-14 advantage at intermission.

But the Retrievers would not quit, first slicing the lead to 13 points at 41-28 after Thomas Young’s three-point field goal with 13:46 remaining. Marquette regrouped and built the lead to 48-28, but UMBC went on a 9-0 run to come within 48-37 with 9:07 to play. Pugh hit a jumper and then a three-pointer to cap that flurry. But MU got consecutive put-backs by forward Lazar Hayward to start an 8-0 run which restored the Golden Eagles’ comfortable margin.

Young tied his career high with 17 points, scoring 13 of those in the second half. Pugh added 15 points, as both players hit six of 13 shots from the floor. Matt Spadafora was the lone non-starter to see action and the red-shirt freshman had season high in points (4), rebounds (6) and minutes played (32).

UMBC hit 12 of 26 shots (46.2%) in the second half, but could not recover from the 22 turnovers. Marquette, which missed 12 of 18 free throw attempts, was led by sophomore guard Dominic James, who scored 17 points and added six assists and four steals.

The Retrievers complete their four-game road swing with a game at William & Mary on Dec. 22.