UMBC

Toledo, Ohio—Five Retrievers scored in double figures, but the young UMBC squad again struggled with perimeter defense and fell at Toledo, 76-67.

Freshman wing Brian Neller (Red Bank, N.J.) scored a season-high 15 points, hitting five of nine shots from behind the arc. Sophomore wing Chauncey Gilliam (Columbia, Md./Brewster (N.H.) Acad.) added 13 and freshman wing Shawn Grant (San Jose, Calif./St. Francis) scored 12.

Rocket freshman wing Jake Barnett led all scores with 26 points and added 12 rebounds and four assists.

Toledo hit 10 of 23 shots from behind the arc and outrebounded UMBC, 40-28.

After allowing the first three points of the second half, UMBC went on a 10-0 run and got to within 41-38 on a Neller three-point field goal at the 15:27 mark. After an exchange of possessions, he had a chance to tie the score, but his open look from the left wing was off the rim.

Neller did hit his fifth and final trifecta of the game to bring the Retrievers back to within 47-43 with 9:30 remaining, but a subsequent 17-4 surge by the hosts put the game out of reach.

UMBC led by as many as seven points after a Grant field goal with at the 9:35 mark of the first half. But the Rockets closed the half on a 14-3 run to erase a 25-24 deficit and turn it into a 38-28 lead at intermission. Toledo buried eight 3-point field goals in the half, paced by Barnett, who hit four of six in a 15-point effort. Neller hit all three of his shots from behind the arc in eight minutes and shared half-high scoring honors with Gilliam with nine each.

The Retrievers shot 42.4 percent from the floor, but that including hitting seven of the last ten attempts.

Chris De La Rosa and Matt Spadafora each scored 10 points for UMBC and De La Rosa contributed seven assists.

UMBC returns to action when they travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions on Dec. 9.