Stony Brook, N.Y. – A depleted UMBC team could not overcome a balanced Stony Brook attack and poor shooting from outside the arc, as they fell to the Seawovles, 78-63, at IFCU Arena.
UMBC dropped its second straight in New York and fell to 18-12 overall and 10-5 in America East play, while SBU improved to 23-6, 11-3. The Retrievers remain in third place with one game remaining, Senior Day on Saturday, March 2 versus New Hampshire.
Tip-off time is slated for 1:00. UMBC will celebrate Senior Day, so fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 12:45 p.m. Tickets are available at https://bit.ly/2EidRfl.
The Retrievers only dressed 10 players, as starting freshman guard R.J. Eytle-Rock (London, England) joined the injured list, missing the game with a hand injury.
Junior guard K.J. Jackson (Houston, Texas) led the Retrievers with 18 points and graduate student forward Joe Sherburne (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.) added 16.
UMBC outscored Stony Brook, 44-26, in the paint and converted 24-of-36 shots inside the arc. However, the Retrievers misfired on 19-of-20 shots from behind the arc, including many great looks.
Trailing 40-29 at intermission, the Retrievers made strong second half runs. UMBC opened the half on 10-2 run to cut deficit to 42-39 at the 15:20 mark, but a Andrew Garcia trey sparked a 9-2 Seawolf respond to extend the lead to 51-41 with 12:14 to play.
Junior guard Ricky Council II (Durham, N.C.), who added 10 points for the visitors, hit the Retrievers' lone trey of the night to get to within 60-54 with 6:43 remaining. But a 7-0 Seawolf surge extended the lead to 67-54 and the Retrievers could not recover. .
Five Seawolves scored in double figures, led by Akwasi Yeboah with 16 points. SBU hit 27-of-54 shots from the floor and 11-of-25 from behind the arc.
UMBC never led, falling behind, 11-4, at the 15:27 mark and by as many as 24-10 with 11:18 to play in the half. The Retrievers misfired on all 12 3-point attempts in the first 20 minutes, but managed to stay engaged by hitting 13-of-19 shots from inside the arc. Defensively, UMBC held SBU to just 16 points in the final 11:18 and trailed only, 40-29 at intermission.
