Albany University's Gerardo Suero is the nation's fourth leading scorer and leads the country in free throws made, but UMBC found a way to slow him down in the first half of the Retrievers' America East home opener, Thursday night at the RAC Arena.
UMBC (2-12, 1-1 America East) kept him off the free throw line and the court, because of foul trouble, but that didn't stop Suero's teammates from picking up the slack and leading a first-half rally from a 14-point deficit on the way to an 89-72 victory.
Suero, who came into the game averaging 22.1 points per game and leading Division I in free throws made (111) and attempted (136), amazingly didn't shoot a free throw in the first half and was held to just six points.
He rallied to finish with 22 points and make 5 of 6 free throws in the second half.
Logan Aronhalt and Mike Black both added 22 points and the duo combined for 29 points in the first half when Albany (10-6, 2-0 America East) erased deficits of 10-0 and 23-9 and took a 51-40 lead into intermission.
They took advantage of UMBC's foul trouble (17 first-half fouls) and converted 15 of 20 free throws.
"In the first 12 minutes of the game, UMBC kicked our butts," said Albany coach Will Brown, whose squad's focus was to slow down UMBC's Chase Plummer and Brian Neller. "We were one for two."
Plummer was unstoppable in the first half, scoring 16 of his team-high 25 points, and Neller hit a pair of three-pointers in the first 6:01 minutes, but was scoreless the rest of the way.
"I was just trying to help the team win," said Plummer, whose only other three-pointer this season came in the America East season-opening win over New Hampshire on the road, Jan. 2.
Neller's second trey gave them 23-9 lead with 13:59 left in the first half, but the Great Danes rallied when the Retrievers committed six fouls in one minute, including five in 22 seconds.
Starting guards Ryan Cook and Quentin Jones (6 points each) were forced to the bench, along with starting 6-foot-8 forward Jake Wasco, who had six first-half points.
"A tale of the first seven or eight minutes of the first half and then Albany decides they want to play basketball and we didn't muster enough intensity on a consistent basis to do what we needed to do," UMBC coach Randy Monroe said. "I told our guys we have got to do a better job on the defensive end of the floor and that was very discouraging for us."
Retriever starters were 13-for-26 from the field in the first half, but the reserves combined for just five points.
Albany's comeback was triggered by Aronhalt, who had 18 points in the first 20 minutes, and Black, who added 11.
Foul trouble continued to haunt the Retrievers in the second half, and when Plummer was disqualified with 5:08 left, they trailed 77-63.
Meanwhile, the Great Danes connected on 30 of 40 free throws overall.
"I told my guys sometimes the ball is not going to go in the basket, so you have to be able to defend and you have to be able to rebound," Monroe said. "That's got to be our staple. We have to be that blue-collar team and bring the lunch pale every single day."
UMBC only made 9 of 17 free throws and were outrebounded 39-26.
"They wanted the basketball more than we did when the shot went up and it showed in the rebounding margin," Plummer said. "As a unit we have to do better, and individually, I have to do better taking control on the defensive end and helping our team impose our will."
