As offense disappears, so does Retrievers’ chance at victory
UMBC limited to 36% FG shooting by Hawks
With his UMBC men’s basketball team trailing Hartford by only five points with less than 40 seconds left, junior shooting guard R.J. Eytle-Rock dribbled the ball off his left foot and watched it bounce into the waiting hands of Hawks guard Traci Carter, who was fouled and converted a pair of free throws.
It was that kind of outing for Eytle-Rock and the Retrievers, whose usually reliable offense disappeared during critical stretches of a 70-63 setback to America East Conference foe Hartford at the UMBC Event Center in Catonsville.
Senior forward Brandon Horvath, a West River resident and Southern graduate, scored a game-high 18 points and also led the team in rebounds (11) and assists (four) to register his fourth double-double of the season and first since Dec. 13 against Coppin State.
But UMBC (9-3, 5-2) labored to reach 63 points, its second-lowest output of the season, trailing only a 62-point effort in an eight-point loss to Georgetown on Nov. 25.
While Eytle-Rock’s miscue might stand out because of the timing and circumstances, coach Ryan Odom refused to single out that development as a turning point.
“That was one play,” he said. “We had a lot of those plays throughout the game where we couldn’t grab the ball. We didn’t make the tough, winning plays that you need in a hard-fought game to deserve to win, and Hartford did.
“Hartford grabbed the ball, they got extra shots in there . ... When we spread the court out, we made some solid plays there and in transition, but overall we did not make the winning plays that we needed.”
In a matchup between two of the three best America East teams, the Retrievers’ No. 3 offense struggled against the Hawks’ No. 2 defense. UMBC had plenty of opportunities, launching 61 shots, its second-most this season.
But the offense converted only 36.1% of those attempts and was particularly dreadful from 3-point range, making only 21.4%
(6-for-28) from long distance.
“We were a little too 3-point-happy,” Odom said. “We don’t like to shoot that many 3s in a game. But every game kind of takes a life of its own and you’ve got to work your way through it.”
The Retrievers outscored Hartford 16-12 in the paint but missed some crucial layups and other short-range shots they typically make.
“We kept getting it near the rim and we were rushing some of them,” Odom said. “We just didn’t put it in the basket.”
Carter, a transfer from La Salle, and guard Austin Williams, a transfer from Marist, paced the Hawks (9-5, 6-3) with 16 points each, and Williams collected a game-best 13 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Sophomore power forward Miroslav Stafl had 14 points and eight rebounds before fouling out with 46.5
seconds left.
In addition to his scoring, Carter finished with six assists, five steals and three rebounds, earning a measure of Odom’s admiration.
“He made a lot of the right plays, whether dropping it off to the big guy or making his own shots,” Odom said of Carter. “He was unselfish [and] his defense was exceptional. … He was clearly the difference in the game.”
Eytle-Rock finished with 13 points, three rebounds and three assists for UMBC, but three starters — senior point guard Darnell Rogers, junior shooting guard L.J. Owens and senior power forward Dimitrije Spasojevic — combined for only seven points on 2-for-16 shooting, five rebounds, two steals and one assist.
“The cool thing for us is, we get to play again [Sunday],” Odom said. “We didn’t play like a good team today.”