UMBC and Hartford entered Wednesday night?s game as the top two scoring teams in the America East, and they showed why by combining for 171 points. However, UMBC had just a little more offense in the end as the Retrievers came away with an 86-85 victory in front of 1,881 fans at the RAC Arena in Catonsville.
Senior guard Brian Hodges scored a team-high 24 points, including the game-winning three-pointer as time expired for UMBC (12-6, 4-1 America East). Hodges? basket came on an inbound play with 3.6 seconds remaining as he shot a fade-away three-pointer while being closely defended by Hartford guard Michael Turner.
“The play was absolutely going to [Hodges] in the end,” UMBC coach Randy Monroe said. “There was not even another thought in my mind. I just think he?s as good as anyone in the country when it comes to shooting the basketball and I knew in my mind I was going to set up the play for him. It was an ?N.B.? or a no-brainer.”
The final score was only one indicator of how close the contest was for the entire game. Overall, there were 27 lead changes, including 19 in the second half, and 16 ties.
UMBC never led by more than six points, which came at 61-55 following a layup by sophomore forward Justin Fry with 12:31 remaining. Hartford?s biggest lead was seven points, which last came at 41-34 with 1:17 left in the first half.
“I knew we had to come out with more intensity and score more in the second half,” Hodges said. “Hartford is a good team that scores a lot of points and at the end of the day the team that scores the most points win. We have a lot of players that are capable of scoring and I had a lot of help tonight.”
Forward Darryl Proctor finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds while guards Ray Barbosa and Jay Greene finished with 13 points and 8 assists and 9 points and 8 assists, respectively for UMBC. The Retrievers also connected on 14-of-25 three-point attempts, including 9-of-14 in the second half.
Forward Warren McLendon led Hartford (8-10, 2-1) by scoring a career-high 29 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Also, guard Joe Zeglinski had 25 points and forward Morgan Tabia finished with 16 points for the Hawks, who made 16-of-25 shots in the second half.
“They had the right guy get the last shot,” Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz said. “It was one of those games the last team that had the ball was going to win. I give them a lot of credit. It was a well-played game but a tough one to take going back to Hartford.”
