UMBC

Brian Hodges scored a game-high 21 points in UMBC's convincing win over Vermont.

The UMBC men’s basketball team turned to somewhat of a new formula, but managed to win its third straight America East game, defeating 2007 America East regular season champion Vermont, 78-60 before 2,207 fans at the RAC Arena.

UMBC tied the mark for its best 16-game record at 11-5 and moved to 3-0 in the conference. Vermont fell to 6-9,1-2.

Retriever senior guard Brian Hodges (Upper Marlboro, Md.) led all scorers with 21 points and was the home team’s America East Player of the Game. Vermont sophomore forward Marqus Blakely earned the honor for his side with a team-best 17 points and seven rebounds.

The Retrievers have been playing predominantly zone defense with a seven-man rotation, but tonight UMBC went to a swarming man-to-man look and wore down the Catamounts. The 60 points allowed was the fewest by the Retrievers in a win vs. Division I competition this season.

“I thought the effort was tremendous tonight.” head coach Randy Monroe said. “They (the players) took on the challenge of the man-to-man defense and did a great job.”

The normal part of the formula was second-half excellence. The Retrievers entered the game having outscored its opponents by 92 points this season and quickly increased an eight-point halftime lead (32-24) to double digits and to as many as 24 points at late in the game. 

UMBC never trailed, building a 22-10 lead on a Matt Spadafora (Richboro, Pa.) layup  with 8:17 to play in the first half. Twice, the Catamounts cut the deficit to five points, the final time on a Chad Powlovich layup with one minute remaining in the half. But Hodges’ lone three-point field goal of the game gave UMBC the 32-24 lead at intermission.

Vermont senior guard Kyle Cieplicki hit the first basket of the second half, but UMBC scored the next seven and the Catamounts never got within single digits in the final 17 minutes of play. Hodges hit three straight jump shots and added two free throws in the first 5:46 of the half to help the Retrievers build a 45-30 advantage.

UMBC hit 18 of 27 shots from the floor in the second half and were over 50 percent from the floor (31/58, 54.3%) for the second consecutive game. They held Vermont to just 22 of 58 from the floor (37.9%) and outrebounded the Catamounts, 37-33.

Junior forward Darryl Proctor (District Heights, Md.) posted his fourth consecutive double-double, scoring 12 points and adding 11 rebounds.  Senior guard Ray Barbosa (Allentown, Pa.) chipped in with 16 points, while senior forward Cavell Johnson (Fort Washington, Md.) scored nine points, corralled a game-high 12 rebounds and blocked four shots.

UMBC defeated Vermont for just the second time in 11 meetings and avenged a three-game UVM sweep last season. The Retrievers are now 6-0 at home this season and have won eight straight overall at the RAC Arena.