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News Release
"A Season to Remember" Ends in NCAA Tournament Setback to Second-Seeded Georgetown, 66-47
3/21/2008
But all good things must come to an end, and this memorable campaign did for the Retrievers today. They fought valiantly but fell to the second-seeded Georgetown Hoyas, 66-47, in the first round of the
The sold out crowd of 19,477 and a national televised audience witnessed the scrappy and beloved Retrievers (24-9) pester the Hoyas (28-5) into 15 turnovers. However, UMBC could not crack the top defense in the nation and scored a season-low 47 points in the defeat.
Junior forward Darryl Proctor was brilliant in defeat. Despite giving up size to the Hoya front line, he led all scorers with 16 points, all rebounders with eight and was one shy of a tournament record with seven steals.
In his final contest, senior guard Brian Hodges was the only other Retriever in double figures with 11 points. Backcourt mate Ray Barbosa (six points) and post Cavell Johnson (five points) also played for the final time in a Retriever uniform.
“We had a great season, a great team,” Hodges said of playing in the NCAA Tournament. “It was a great way to end my career. It’s a good feeling to know people want you to succeed and are rooting for you for the upset. We had the fans rooting for us, we were playing
UMBC led twice in the first half, grabbing the final advantage at 12-9 on a Barbosa three-pointer with 12:52 to play. Hodges kept the Retrievers within a point at 18-17 on a trifecta with 8:11 left, but the Retrievers would then go scoreless for the next 7:03, while the Hoyas went on a 13-0 run to lead 31-17 at the 2:56 mark. UMBC tried to get the momentum back as Johnson dunked a Jay Greene feed with eight second remaining in the half. But
The Retrievers fell behind by 19 points at 48-29, but, sparked by a pair of three-point field goals by Greene, put together a 8-2 flurry to get the deficit down to 13 points at 50-37 with 9:39 remaining. But sophomore wing Matt Spadafora missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with the chance to cut the lead to 11 and the Hoyas countered with a 10-2 surge to put the contest out of reach.
UMBC managed to hit only 32 percent (16 of 50) from the floor, while the Hoyas hit 26 of 51 (51 percent). GU seven-foot-two center Roy Hibbert hit six of eight from the floor and scored 13 points for his side to lead four Hoyas in double figures.
Proctor scored in double figures for the 31st time in 33 games this season.
“Just being in this atmosphere, getting all the attention we’ve gotten, playing against a team like