In his debut, Hinkle lifts AU, 66-53

When the 6-foot-5 transfer made his first appearance for AU, Tuesday night in a 66-53 victory at UMBC, he gave the placid Eagles what they needed most – an injection of attitude.

Less than 20 seconds after he checked in, Hinkle sprawled on the floor for a loose ball, clapping and exhorting his teammates from his backside. Moments later, he was up in the face of a Retriever forward talking smack.

Hinkle’s effect also was evident on the scoreboard. After he entered, AU transformed a 10-3 deficit into a 35-16 lead at the half. Hinkle scored only five of the points in the 32-6 run, but even those were inspirational as he pointed to the heavens after hitting a 20-footer, looked to the bench, and nodded to his teammates.

“He was the catalyst, not because of anything pretty. He came in and really energized us,” said AU coach Jeff Jones. “He got a couple offensive rebounds. He dove on the floor, got a couple loose balls, played some good defense. That’s what we need, not just from Charles.”

Hinkle’s night of floor burns was typified when he took on a UMBC freshman guard Jamar Wertz in the backcourt, going to the floor to make a steal, and passing to Nick Hendra (4 points, 4 assists), who drew a foul and hit two free throws for a 16-12 lead.

“I don’t want to give Charles all the credit,” said Jones. “But that transformation started taking place when he came in.”

Hinkle (8 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) was celebrating his return to college basketball after sitting out a year, following his transfer from Vanderbilt where he languished on the bench for a season and a half.

“It felt good. It’s been a long time. I was excited,” said Hinkle. “We came off a little sluggish. I just felt like it was a perfect time to help the team.”

The victory for AU (6-3), before 1,744, snapped the Eagles’ three-game losing streak. It was the product of a balanced attack led by 6-5 guard Troy Brower (18 points, 7 rebounds), who hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions as AU closed the first half with a 15-0 run.

It was a departure from the way AU began the game, missing 11 of its first 12 shots against a tightly-packed UMBC zone.

“We got better shots. We were still shooting threes. But they were different,” said Jones. “Once we got it going, we ran some offense, we forced them to guard some things. Then Troy is stepping into shots. There’s a difference.”

Also contributing were guards Daniel Munoz (10 points), who hit two 3-pointers during the first-half rally, and Steve Luptak (6 points), who hit a pair of threes early in the second half to ruin any comeback notions of struggling UMBC (0-10).

The Retrievers did stage a late rally, led by guards Travis King (20 points, 5 rebounds) and Chris De La Rosa (18 points, 5 assists). UMBC cut the deficit from 23 to 9 with 1:28 left. But AU forward Stephen Lumpkins (11 points, 10 rebounds) answered with a 3-point play and Brewer followed with a 3-point breakaway dunk.

According to UMBC coach Randy Monroe, the game was lost in the first half.

“There’s two halves of a basketball game,” said Monroe. “You can’t give up second-effort points, which we did tonight. And you can not go 2 for 21 to end the half. That’s just not going to cut it for a college basketball team.”

It was a rare night for AU, having success on a night when forwards Lumpkins and Vlad Moldoveanu (9 points, 6 turnovers) combined to hit just 6 of 21 shots from the floor.

“At the beginning of the game, ball went down into Vlad and they doubled,” said Munoz. “Charles said, ‘Danny, that’s your man doubling, so be ready.’ I knew [the scoring] was going to have to come from other places.”

And it may have to continue with tough games before Christmas at undefeated Northwestern (6-0) on Thursday and at Pittsburgh (10-1) next Wednesday.

“We always want to challenge ourselves,” said Jones. “If we approach it in the right way, win or lose, we can learn valuable lessons.”

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