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.

With 1.9 seconds remaining in the game, sophomore point guard Chris De La Rosa pulled up for a left handed jumper to give UMBC a 59-57 victory over American, snapping a nine-game losing streak and giving them their first win of the season.

Just five minutes into the game UMBC was down 14-2 to the Eagles but rallied back and never game up on the game. Eventually, just three minutes into the second half, the Retriever grabbed a hold of the lead and never let American get it back.

De La Rosa, who had a very questionable start to the season and took too many bad shots, has settled down lately and against American scored 11 points, shot 50% from the field, handed out five assists, and grabbed four rebounds in the game. While UMBC has showed a lot of improvement over the course of the season, in the last three games the Retriever have been stopped by injuries. This time both Robbie Jackson and Chauncey Gilliam were fully healthy and the team finally put everything together and got their first win.

While the team was still much smaller than American overall, Jackson, as he usually is, was the biggest player on the court and really improved the struggling defense. American only scored 22 points in the paint and shot just 35.2% from the field as they were unable to get much going inside and attempted 21 shots from outside and they only hit five of them.

Gilliam struggled against Rider with an ankle injury, but looks to be fully healthy as he left all scorers with 17 points while going up to get four rebounds and get two steals. Matt Spadafora also had another solid game as he scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds in the game. He also had two steals and one assists while shooting 65.5% from the field.

Defensively UMBC had their best game of the season and while the bench only provided five points, all of which came from Nick Groce, they did not need to score because of the ball pressure the entire team put on American.

At 0-9 it would be easy for the team to just give up on the season, but UMBC has played very well recently and have showed they can be a factor in the America East Conference, which is wide-open as the rest of the conference has struggled in non-conference play as well, and this time the hard work paid off for their first win.

UMBC will have an extremely tough challenge to get another win in their next game as they will take on the 9-1 Virginia Tech Hokies in just two days on Tuesday, December 22, at 7:00 pm in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“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.”

While Robbie Jackson led the team in both points and rebounds for a second straight game with 13 and seven respectively.  He also blocked two James Madison shots.  He only played 19 minutes due to foul trouble.  If UMBC wants to be successful he absolutely has to stay in the game.  It will come in time because he has only played five games in over a year, but he has to stop the early fouls, and quick.

Other than Jackson having his time limited, there was very little rotation.  The other four starters all saw at least 31 minutes of action, and only three reserves were called upon.

As for the starters, Adrian Satchell was second on the team with 10 points in 31 minutes of action as he went 4-5 from the field and 2-2 from the charity stripe.

Matt Spadafora and Chauncey Gilliam each addedd nine points and six rebounds.  Gilliam also had three assists and two steals.

De La Rosa only managed two points in 34 minutes but he took care of the ball well as he had three assists and just two turnovers while stealing two balls from the Dukes.

Only three players saw time off the bench.  Shawn Grant led the bench with seven points and five rebounds while Nick Groce added two points and two assists.  Jake Wasco say 14 minutes of action and grabbed four rebounds and recorded a block but did not score in the game.

It was a very sloppy game.  Neither team shot the ball well at all as James Madison shot 36% from the field and UMBC shot just 31%.  While both teams had 18 made field goals, and UMBC outrebounded James Madison 41-32, and caused more turnovers, what won the game for James Madison was three pointers.  While they missed 17 shots, they made eight, six more than UMBC, and in a close game that was ultimately the difference in the game that dropped UMBC to a 0-5 start.

While still in quest of their first win, the Retrievers will take part in their second of four straight road games as they will travel north on I-95 to take on local rival Towson on Wednesday at 7:00 pm.