With a touch of holiday humor, UMBC added "S. Claus" to its basketball roster for its game with visiting Washington College last night.
But after losing their first five games this season, the Retrievers were in anything but a charitable mood. After spotting the Division III Shoremen a 4-0 lead, UMBC scored the next 16 points en route to a 71-45 victory.
Two weeks ago, the Shoremen (5-4) trailed Delaware, another Division I school, by only five points in the final minute before losing, 67-58. But UMBC, with a pronounced size and speed advantage, would not allow Washington to draw closer than 15 points after finishing the first half with a 37-19 advantage.
A jump shot by Matt King made it 50-35 with 8:49 remaining, but the Retrievers answered with an 11-3 run to assure their first victory of the season.
The Retrievers' trapping defense helped establish a pair of defensive records for the nine years the school has been a member of Division I.
UMBC held the Shoremen to 27 percent shooting (15-for-55). And the 45-point total was the lowest for a rival team in a 40-minute game. Morgan State once scored only 37 points, but that game was suspended before completion.
"When you're 0-5, you can't look past anyone," said UMBC coach Earl Hawkins. "We jumped on them early, maintained our pressure defense and were able to take advantage of their turnovers.
"At halftime, I challenged my team to hold them under 50 points, and we accomplished that goal."
Hawkins had his defense pay special attention to sophomore guard Ben Harris, who entered the game with a 23.2 scoring average. If Harris managed to get past the first line of defense, he still had to shoot over 7-foot Pascal Fleury, who rejected six shots.
"We knew [Harris] could really shoot the ball, and felt man pressure could force him into some bad shots," said Hawkins.
Harris made only one of seven shots in a six-point first half. The Arlington, Va., native found the range in the second half, hitting four of eight three-point attempts en route to a 19-point total, but none of his teammates scored more than six points.
"No one else picked up the slack," said Washington coach Tom Finnegan, who recently notched his 300th career victory. "We knew because of their size we wouldn't be getting a lot of second shots, but we just couldn't put the ball in the basket. It's as simple as that."
With a win under their belts, the Retrievers must return to the road next week to play Xavier of Ohio and Louisiana State.