UMBC

Stony Brook, N.Y.—The UMBC men’s basketball team hit a sizzling 74 percent from the floor in the second half, outscoring host Stony Brook, 47-24 as the Retrievers defeated the host Seawolves, 72-53, in America East Conference play.

UMBC has won its first two games in league play, both on the road, and improved to 6-9 overall. Stony Brook fell to 5-9, 0-2. It was the Retrievers’ first ever win at the SBU Arena, after defeating Binghamton for the first time at the BU Events Center on Wednesday.

Junior guard Brian Hodges scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the final 20 minutes and was UMBC’s America East Conference Player of the Game for the second consecutive contest.

Stony Brook led, 29-25 at intermission and scored the first field goal of the second half. But the Retrievers hit 10 of their next 11 shots from the floor in a 24-4 run which gave the visitors a 49-35 lead with 9:27 remaining. The Seawolves never got to within single digits the rest of the way as UMBC hit 12 of 14 second half free throws and outrebounded SBU, 18-8 in the final 20 minutes to secure the victory.

UMBC got contributions from a variety of sources. Hodges hit eight of 13 shots from the floor to lead the way, but sophomore guard Jay Greene added 13 points, five assists and four steals and classmate Thomas Young hit six of nine shots in a 12-point effort. Freshman Justin Fry had another solid effort, with nine points, a team-high six rebounds and a season-high four blocked shots.

Senior forward Mike Popoko led SBU with 15 points, but UMBC held Seawolf leading scorer Ricky Lucas (16.0 ppg) to just two points.

UMBC improved to 5-6 on the road after a 1-13 mark away from the RAC Arena a year ago. The Retrievers return home to enterain defending league champion Albany on Tuesday.