Sophomore wingman Chauncey Gilliam set a career high with 24 points but the men’s basketball team fell to Stony Brook, 81-69. [Corey Johns-TRW]
Chauncey Gilliam scored a career-high 24 points off eight field goals, four of which were from three-point range, and four free throws but the rebounding and defensive woes continue to put UMBC on the losing end as they fell to Stony Brook, 81-69.
Just forty-two seconds into the game Gilliam was sent to the bench for the next eight minutes after picking up two quick fouls. Less than three minutes after that coach Randy Monroe attempted to fire up his team and received an intentional foul. But the Retrievers could not get anything going as they fell behind 20-4 in just seven minutes.
After not being able get anything going Gilliam was brought back into the game and he and Grant made six three-pointers and combined for 24 points to get UMBC back into the game. Grant scored all 11 of his points in the first half while the team shot 50% from the field.
Stony Brook let UMBC hang around and eventually cut the Seawolf lead to just five points early in the second half. While UMBC was closing in towards the end, when it came time to foul Stony Brook on each possession, UMBC came up with empty possessions.
But once again it was poor defense and a lack of rebounding that got the best of UMBC. The Retrievers came up empty on a lot of possessions as they only managed five offensive rebounds, just two days after grabbing just one against Albany, and were out-rebounded 50-28 in the game. Stony Brook shot less than 40% in the game but scored 81 points, the fourth most UMBC has allowed in 40 minutes this season, off 66 shot attempts.
While Monroe admits he hates the term, he has admitted that a lot of the problems this season are because of youth and inexperience. Of the 10 available players this season, four of them are freshman, and three are sophomores. They have combined for 74% of the playing time this season and 73% of the team’s points.
At 1-17, the team will look to get their first conference win of the season with three straight home games against New Hampshire, Boston University, and Binghamton in a span of seven days.
