Sophomore point guard Chris De La Rosa led the team with 18 points and shot a team high 50% from the field. He also shot 85% from the free throw line and dished out a team high four assists. [Corey Johns- TRW]

After having their game against Vermont moved up a day to avoid the snow storm, the men’s basketball team looked like they could have used the extra practice as they could not keep up in the 79-60 loss.

Neither team could get much of anything going on offense in the game. The flow was interrupted 52 times with fouls, resulting in a staggering 71 free throw attempts.

But Vermont found a way to get out of the gates quickly and find a double-digit lead in just eight minutes, and they never looked back. At that point Vermont was shooting 63% while UMBC was shooting just 25% from the field.

Both teams played sloppy. The Catamounts turned the ball over 21 times and committed 25 fouls, while UMBC turned the ball over 11 times and committed 27 fouls. However, despite turning the ball over so much Vermont managed to make 48.9% of their shots while UMBC struggled the entire game, shooting just 35.6%.

The game very much played out like the last time these two teams met up. In the first reigning two-time player and defensive players of the year was held to zero points and just three rebounds because of a double-team he was met with the entire game, but that left Garvey Young, a career 28.5% three-point shooter, open as he scored a career high 20 points and made three baskets from behind the arc. Sixteen of his points came in the first half.

After being down by 10 points at halftime, Randy Monroe was not pleased with the way his starting five came out in the second half and in less than two minutes subbed all five out in favor of Robbie Jackson, Brian Neller, Nick Groce, Shawn Grant, and Bakari Smith.

That group did not let Vermont pull away, and were cutting the deficit, but fouls forced Grant back to the bench, bringing Chauncey Gilliam back in and with the 14 point deficit combining with a foul call that he felt did not go his way, he was issued with a technical foul, and his fourth personal of the game.

Once that happened the starters were being filtered back in, and Vermont built their lead up to 21 points with 2:23 left in the game before Monroe was issued his fourth technical foul of the season because of frustration in the way his team was playing.

While Vermont was being carried by Young and Evan Fjeld, eight points, in the first half, their two stars came alive in the second half as Blakely scored 13 points, nine of which came from the foul line, and Maurice Joseph scored eight points, giving him 13 in the game. Brendan Bald also scored seven points in the second half, giving him nine for the game.

Sophomore guard Chauncey Gilliam has constantly been met with double-teams by opposing defenses, which has caused him to struggle from the field, shooting just 37% in his last five games, despite scoring in double figures in all of them. [Corey Johns-TRW]

UMBC however only had two players score in double figures as Chris De La Rosa led the team with 18 points and four assists and Chauncey Gilliam scored 15 points.

Despite having scored in double figures in seven straight games, Gilliam has not had much success shooting the ball over the last four. He is just 15-of-43 (34.8%) from the field but has capitalized on his free throw opportunities going 20-of-24 (83.3%) from the line.

Monroe was unavailable for questioning following the game.

“I’d have to lie if I say it didn’t hurt but everybody is being positive,” said Matt Spadafora. “We still have 20 games left and there is a lot of basketball to be played. It hurts right now but we’re going through from adverse situations but it’s only going to help us in the end.”

While they lost their final home game of 2009 to Rider, 79-67, the team played their best game of the season. While the team was without 7’0” center Robbie Jackson, who missed his second straight game with an ankle injury, and had a injured Chauncey Gilliam limited with time because of an ankle injury, the team was just outmatched but the Broncs who used their big size advantage on UMBC to get things going inside.

UMBC shot an astounding 50% from the field and hit just on less three-pointer than Rider, but once again the defense did not play well as they allowed their opponents to scored 79 points and also shoot 50% from the field.

“On the defensive side we just have to do a better job overall as a team,” said Matt Spadafora. “If one guy gets beat we have to have guys slide over and step up. Then to finish we have to rebound and keep guys off the glass.”

With Jackson out of action, and Gilliam playing with an ankle injury, Spadafora stepped up and played on of his best games of his career as he scored 16 points with a career high nine rebounds.

“I was really proud of Matt. He really stepped up and made some key baskets, played hard, and gutted it out,” said coach Randy Monroe.

Two other Retrievers finished the games in double digits in scoring, freshman Adrian Satchell, who scored 10 points, and sophomore Chris De La Rosa, who scored 11 points with five assists and three rebounds.

Because of the injuries Gilliam came off the bench, and filling to two gaps in the starting lineup were Shawn Grant, who made his second straight start, and Nick Groce. Whiel Grant struggled to get anything going as he scored just three points, Groce excelled both defensively and offensively. He scored eight points, went perfect from the field, and missed just one free throw.

Also because of the injuries, Bakari Smith, Brian Neller, and Jake Wasco all saw significant minutes off the bench. Smith went 2-2 from the floor for four points while Neller, who hit two threes, and Wasco, each scored six points.

“I think these guys are definitively growing,” Monroe said. “They are very coachable and they have a very bright future. They have a chance to be very good, but they are learning what college basketball is all about now. It’s a true lesson but it’s something I think that will make them very good players down the road.”

With that 0-9 record, the team has just three more games before beginning conference play. All three games are on the road and after a conference challenge at Vermont, they return to the RAC for one final tune-up game against Pennsylvania.

“Each game we just want to get better as a team,” Spadafora said. “Once conference starts our team is going to be rolling and we hopefully will be coming up on the other side of these games.”

Ten minutes into the game that number went down even more when leading scorer Chauncey Gilliam was taken out of the game with a sprained ankle and did not return.

With the injuries UMBC was left with eight players, only one of whom was taller than 6’5″. That lack of players and size did not add up for a victory over the Nittany Lions, who had the size, depth, and talent to outmatch any set of players UMBC put on the court.

For the majority of the game UMBC ran a five guard set with six players: Chris De La Rosa, Shawn Grant, Matt Spadafora, Brian Neller, Adrian Satchell, and Nick Groce.

De La Rosa and Neller led the team with 10 points each. De La Rosa also matched his season average, dishing out six assists, while adding four steals. Neller stole three Penn State possessions but more importantly scored two of UMBC’s four three-pointers. The other two were from Groce who scored six points. Grant and Satchell also scored six points while Satchell grabbed a team high five rebounds.

As fatigue set in down the stretch the offense failed to get going and only shot 32.11% from the field and 18.2% from three-point range in a 42 point effort.

But defensively UMBC played their best game of the season. While they have given up 74.1 points per game, they held Penn State to just 58 points.

With the five guards in a 2-3 zone the Nittany Lions shot poor from the field, going just 39.1% from the field and 19.0% from three-point range.

For the first half of action UMBC kept the game close. They went into the intermission down just four points, but could not hold up the effort and were outscored 31-19 in the second half.

UMBC is now 0-8 and will take on Rider on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.