UMBC survives late charge to down UMass-Lowell
Catonsville — UMBC men’s basketball survived a late charge by the UMass-Lowell River Hawks on Saturday afternoon, winning on their home floor, 70-66.
With 2:07 reaming in the contest, UMBC junior forward Arkel Lamar hit a big 3-pointer off a press break to give the Retrievers (17-10, 9-3) a seemingly comfortable eight-point lead at 67-59.
But the River Hawks (14-13, 6-6) refused to quit and ratcheted up their defense forcing missed shots and turnovers to cut the lead to two with just 1:01 remaining.
UMBC head coach Ryan Odom then called a time out to settle things down, drawing up a play that resulted in a missed jumper by sophomore guard Brandon Horvath, but a big offensive rebound by freshman guard R.J. Eytle-Rock forced the River Hawks into a foul situation. Graduate student Joe Sherburne sank both of his free throws with 15 seconds remaining, giving the Retrievers their final margin of victory.
The Retrievers lead for virtually the entire game, trailing on twice, both by one point, and both in the first half, for a total of 1:38 of game time.
UMBC took a four-point lead into the locker room and quickly added six more points to that lead only 1:43 seconds into the second half.
However, turnovers, foul trouble and timely 3-point shooting by the River Hawks did not allow the Retrievers to pull away. UMBC finished with 15 turnovers for the game, a problem that continues to rear it’s ugly head.
Sherburne, Eytle-Rock and junior guard K.J. Jackson each finished the game with four personal fouls, forcing coach Odom to make substitutions earlier than he might have wanted to.
Because of this, the bench for the Retrievers had to come up big, and they did not disappoint. Horvath finished with eight points and seven rebounds while junior guard Ricky Council II checked in with nine points.
Jackson and Lamar shined offensively for the Retrievers, scoring 17 points each. Sherburne finished with 12 points.
Redshirt junior guard Christian Lutete (Silver Spring, Phillip Exeter) led the River Hawks with 17 points, but was just 6-15 from the field, as it was clear that he was the focus of the Retrievers’ defensive effort. Freshman forward Darius Henderson finished with 13 points, including hitting some big shots from beyond the arc.
Unfortunately, for the River Hawks, the rest of their team did not shoot well from long distance, finishing just 7-25 from that range. They also were unable to take full advantage of the 22 fouls called on the Retrievers, finishing 11-18 from the charity stripe.
The Retrievers have now won eight of their last nine and will get four days off before their big showdown with the Vermont Catamounts at home on Thursday evening.
