With momentum from a win at home last week, men’s basketball hosted the University of Maryland Baltimore County on Saturday, Jan. 25.
Junior guard TJ Hurley and senior guard TJ Long stayed in warmups for the full game—leaving the Catamounts without their top two scorers as they approach the America East playoffs.
From the jump, UVM made a convincing case that the absences wouldn’t hold them back, opening with eight points unanswered in under two minutes.
Overwhelmed, UMBC interrupted the streak with an early timeout, warranting a burst of cheers by a packed Patrick Gymnasium.
The timeout proved a defining reset for the Retrievers, who evened the score at 12-12 within minutes of returning to the floor.
By the second half, UMBC built a comfortable 16-point lead over UVM for a 44-28 score at the break, setting a grim tone for the remainder of the game.
Despite recording 35 second half points—only one shy of the 36 by UMBC—the Cats couldn’t recover from the Retrievers’ first-half escape.
UVM managed 63 points to UMBC’s 80 by the final horn, breaking their 23-game win streak against conference teams at Patrick Gym.
UMBC is ranked second in America East in points per game. They net 82.2 offensive points on average compared to Vermont’s 65.8 which puts the Cats in the bottom two of the conference.
Men’s basketball will be back at home for a Feb. 1 game against the University of Maine in their first of two matchups this regular season.
