UMBC

BALTIMORE—Senior guard Reggie Holmes scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the second half as Morgan State (2-0) rallied for a 72-57 win at UMBC (0-1) in the opening game of the season for the Retrievers.

Senior wing Matt Spadafora led UMBC with 12 points.

UMBC led 34-22 at halftime and extended the lead to 42-24 on a driving layup by Chauncey Gilliam with 17:15 remaining.   But Gilliam and starting point guard Chris De La Rosa picked up their third fouls in the next three possessions and the visitors took advantage of their absence. Morgan State scored the next 19 points of the contest over a five-minute span and took the lead at 43-42 on Holmes’ layup with 12:13 remaining.

UMBC would score on its next three possessions and grabbed a 49-45 lead on an Adrian Satchell jumper with 9:46 remaining. But the Bears followed with another huge run, outscoring the Retrievers, 16-2, over the next five minutes to lead comfortably, 61-51, with 4:53 remaining.

UMBC converted only eight of 33 attempts in the second half and made only three of 21 from behind the arc for the game. The Bears switched to a zone defense in the early stages of the second half and UMBC’s inexperienced team was unable to capitalize. Morgan State also recorded eight of 11 blocked shots in the second half and junior post Rodney Stokes amassed seven.

Morgan State, which opened with a 69-65 win at Albany on Friday, outrebounded UMBC, 30-15, in the second half and 48-40 for the contest.

Gilliam scored 11 points for UMBC, while freshman post Satchell had nine points and tied Thompson for game rebounding honors with 10.