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News Release

Men's Basketball Wraps Up Home Schedule With Thrilling 80-77 Win over Maine

2/22/2007

Baltimore, Md.—In his final home game, senior guard Chris Pugh scored a team-high 20 points as the suddenly-hot UMBC Retrievers nipped visiting Maine, 80-77 before a raucous crowd of 2,609 at the RAC Arena.

With the win, the Retrievers move into sole possession of fourth place in the America East Conference with a league mark of 7-8, while Maine drops a game below at 6-9. Both teams are 11-17 overall. The Retrievers conclude the regular season at New Hampshire on Sunday.

Pugh earned America East Player of the Game honors with his effort, as he hit six of eight shots, including four of six behind the arc and four of four from the free throw line. Despite misfiring on two three-point attempts in the final seconds of play, Maine senior guard Kevin Reed earned the nightly honor for his side, scoring a game-high 24 points.

After hitting just over 33 percent from the floor in a 0-4 streak, the Retrievers have hit 50 percent or better in a win over Boston University (67-63) on Sunday and tonight vs. Maine. UMBC hit 28 of 53 field goal attempts, 10 of 21 from behind the arc and 14 of 16 from the free throw line vs. the Black Bears.

UMBC started slowly, as Maine bolted out to a 12-2 lead at the 13:40 mark. But junior guard Brian Hodges entered the contest and scored 12 points in 14 minutes and helped UMBC overtake the visitors just before halftime. A Thomas Young layup with 47 seconds to play in the half gave UMBC the lead for good at 35-34 and Hodges added another lay-in with four seconds left to give the Retrievers a 37-34 halftime edge.

The Retrievers continued their sharp-shooting in the second half and built three leads of ten, the final occurring as Pugh hit all three free throws with 5:37 to play. But the Black Bears kept coming on, and sophomore post Phil Tchekane Bofia hit a line drive three-pointer to cut the deficit to 78-77 with 32 seconds left. Retriever guard Thomas Young was fouled on the ensuing possession and hit both ends of a one-and-one with 24 seconds left. Reed had two heavily contested three-point attempts in the final six seconds, but could not convert as UMBC evened its home record at 6-6 on the season.

Hodges finished the game with 19 points and sophomore point guard Jay Greene came up one assist shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine helpers. Senior Mike Housman added 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds and, in his 110^th career game, hit his first two three-point field goal attempts.