BURLINGTON, Vt. -- With leading scorer Brian Hodges sidelined by an ankle injury, four players in the lineup with four fouls for the final minutes and Vermont's sellout crowd roaring, the odds were against UMBC yesterday.
But paced by a career-high 26 points from junior guard Jay Greene, 21 from senior guard Ray Barbosa and a 12-point, 12-rebound effort from junior forward Darryl Proctor, the Retrievers beat the odds and the Catamounts, 75-73, at Patrick Gymnasium before an announced 3,266.
Greene scored 18 points in the first 12 minutes and Barbosa had 18 in the second half to lead UMBC (15-7, 7-2 America East). Vermont, which had won its past five games, fell to 11-9 overall and 6-3 in the conference, giving UMBC sole possession of first place.
"This is one of the best places to play in our league," UMBC coach Randy Monroe said. "They get tremendous support and backing, and for our guys to come up here and do what they did, I can't tell you how proud I am of them."
Vermont led by as many as seven points in the first half and held a 35-31 edge at halftime. Greene, who was 5-for-5 from three-point range, made his first six shots from the field, which did not please Catamounts coach Mike Lonergan, a former Maryland assistant.
"I thought we had some opportunities in the first half to go on some big runs, but unfortunately, we really struggled to guard Jay Greene," Lonergan said. "It's disappointing. It's what we worked on the last couple of days, but he dominated that game."
After the Catamounts opened the second half with a 10-4 run to lead 45-35, Monroe called a timeout to change the defense. Vermont managed just three field goals and eight free throws over the next 12 minutes as UMBC stormed back to take a 63-59 lead on Greene's three-pointer with 5:21 left.
"We played zone defense, matched up in it and really did an effective job with it," Monroe said. "Our guys did a good job of getting out to their shooters."
Vermont scrambled back to take a 71-70 lead with 1:39 remaining before Barbosa was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to give his team the lead for good. Down two points, the Catamounts had a final chance after UMBC's Cavell Johnson missed two free throws with 9.9 seconds remaining, but Greene's tough defense kept the ball out of sharpshooter Mike Trimboli's hands and Johnson made up for the misses by harassing Vermont's Marqus Blakely (26 points, 14 rebounds) into a three-point attempt at the buzzer that missed badly.