UMBC

Harrisonburg, Va.—Matt Spadafora’s 12-foot baseline jumper with two seconds left came up short, and the visiting UMBC Retrievers fell at James Madison, 53-51, in the Dukes’ home opener.

Junior post Robbie Jackson led UMBC with 12 points, and freshman forward Adrian Satchell added 10.  Jackson added seven rebounds in 19 minutes of action as UMBC outrebounded the Dukes, 41-32.

The Retrievers trailed, 52-43, with 2:41 remaining, but got field goals on their next four possessions, capped by Jackson’s hook with 35 seconds left to cut the deficit to 52-51. JMU’s Dazzmond Thornton hit one of two free throws two seconds later, but UMBC sophomore guard Chris De La Rosa missed on a driving layup with 12 seconds to play. The Dukes’ Darren White missed two free throw attempts with 10 seconds to play and Jackson grabbed the carom.

JMU had three fouls to give and committed one with three seconds left. Spadafora took the inbounds pass on the right baseline, but his jumper grazed the front of the rim and the buzzer sounded as the ball went out of bounds.   

James Madison’s Julius Wells led all scorers with 18 points, including four 3-point field goals.  The Dukes hit eight shots (of 26) from behind the arc, while UMBC was 2-of-9.

Both teams struggled from the floor. UMBC hit just 8 of 34 in the first half and finished the game at 31 percent, while JMU made only five second half field goals (of 21) and were at 36 percent for the contest.

UMBC led 28-27 after a pair of free throws by Gilliam with 2:45 remaining in the half, but the Dukes scored the final six points of the stanza to take a 33-28 lead into the locker room. The Retrievers managed to hit only 8-of-23 shots from the floor in the first half, but were buoyed by converting all 10 free throw attempts.

Spadafora and Gilliam each scored nine points for UMBC.

The Retrievers travel to Towson to face the Tigers on Wednesday.