Feb. 8, 2004

Box Score

BALTIMORE - Senior guard Kareem Washington tallied a season high 26 points as host UMBC (7-14, 4-8 America East) snapped a four-game losing streak and toppled Stony Brook (6-15, 3-9), 72-53 before 1,347 fans at the RAC Arena.

Stony Brook, which dropped its fifth consecutive game, took a 24-17 lead with 7:11 to play in the first half, but the Retrievers went on a 13-0 run to take control the contest. Sophomore forward John Zito scored eight straight points in the surge, including six of six from the free throw line. Zito entered the game hitting just 35.3% (24/68) from the charity stripe, but gave UMBC the lead for good with a pair of free throws at the 3:53 mark.

The Retrievers led, 34-26, at intermission, and the Seawolves were still just down by nine points at 41-32 with 14:44 to play. But UMBC solved Stony Brook's 1-2-2 press, and converted a pair of layups and scored on three fast breaks to key a 10-1 run which gave the hosts a comfortable 52-33 advantage with 11:11 remaining. UMBC hit 15 of 23 shots in the second half (65.2%) and were at 48.1% for the contest.

Washington hit 9 of 15 shots from the floor and 5 of 8 from behind the arc. He added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals and moved into 12th place on UMBC's all-time scoring list with 1,061 points. Zito added 10 points, and UMBC got a strong effort off the bench from freshman Mike Housman, who scored 9 points and added 9 rebounds.

D.J. Munir led Stony Brook with 14 points, but just scored twice after halftime. Junior pivot Cori Spencer added 12 points. The Seawolves hit just 19 of 54 shots (35.2%) and were outrebounded, 41-28.