Senior guard Joseph McLean led Morgan State with 14 points against the Retrievers on Monday night.
Boxscore
BALTIMORE, Md. – Brian Hodges scored a game-high 36 points leading UMBC to an 86-72 victory at Hill Field House. Joseph McLean led Morgan State with 14 points, but not enough to bring the Bears their first win of the season.
Morgan State (0-5) had a tough time slowing down Hodges who finished the game by shooting a sizzling 10-of-18 (56.5%) from the floor and 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.
The Bears also had a solid night of shooting and converted 14-of-27 (51.9%) field goals in the first half, and finished the contest by shooting 46.4 percent (12-29 FG).
Morgan State finished with four players scoring in double digits, led by McLean with 14 points, Jamar Smith and Ronald Timus added 13 points each, while Reggie Holmes contributed 11.
UMBC’s (3-3) Jay Greene chipped in 15 points with seven assists and Mike Houseman tallied 10 points with eight boards.
The Retrievers shot 46.4 percent (26-56 FG) from the field and outrebounded the Bears by a slim 35-32 margin.
Morgan State used 52 percent shooting in the first half to build a nine-point lead at 33-24 with 4:14 to play in the half. But Hodges nailed two three-pointers to help trim the Bears advantage to 38-36 at the intermission. It was MSU’s first halftime lead of the season.
The Bears opened the second half sluggish and the Retrievers capitalized by racing out on an 11-2 run. Hodges pushed UMBC’s lead to 50-41 when he scored a layup with 13:49 remaining.
The Bears answered with a 10-2 run of their own and a layup by Tim Berkley tied the ballgame at 62-62 at the 6:20 mark.
UMBC would go on to outscore the Bears by a 24-10 margin in the final six minutes of the contest.
"I thought we took positive steps as a program," said MSU head coach Todd Bozeman. "Our goal tonight was to start the game off better, and we did, but now we have to teach our team how to play when ahead."
"It's a building process," Bozeman added. "We are still having defensive lapses, but they are more glaring when you have a chance to win the game."
With the win, the Retrievers ended up knotting the all-time series record with Morgan State at 12 apiece.
The Bears will attempt to break into the win column when they travel to square-off in non-conference action against Penn State. The game is set to tip-off at 4:00 p.m.
