Great Danes fall in overtime to UMBC on Neon Night

ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) -- The UAlbany men's basketball program hosted its inaugural Neon Night on Thursday, eventually falling to UMBC in overtime 92-87.

Coach Dwayne Killings: "I thought today was cool with the uniforms and the opportunity for Neon Night. I thought it gave us a little bit of energy for everybody, and I thought we played well in the first half. In the second half we collapsed. Credit to the UMBC…I think overall, we did some decent things offensively. Defensively we were atrocious; we did not guard the ball in the second half, we gave up 51 points, and then still we had a chance to finish the game off, it came down to making layups at the rim, free throws, which we did not do, and then inbounding the basketball, which was disappointing how we executed."
 
Key Stats:

• Amar'e Marshall led the scoring for the Great Danes totaling 25 points in 43 minutes of play.
• Marshall joined Justin Neely and Byron Joshua in recording three assists each.
• Joshua and Marshall each recorded two steals.
• UAlbany outrebounded UMBC 41-38.
• The Great Danes went 31-78 (39.7%) from the field, 9-27 (33.3%) from beyond the arc, and 16-26 (61.5%) from the free-throw line.
   

How it Happened:

• UAlbany and UMBC started out exchanging points back and forth making it a 6-5 game in favor of the Great Danes, both sides working very well defensively.
• At 15:49, Byron Joshua delivered a critical three-pointer putting the Great Danes up 9-8.
• The Great Danes were able to go on a six-point run with four of those points coming from Joshua, putting them in front of UMBC by a score of 15-11.
• Bautista Giralt added UAlbany's next three points, with a layup and a good free throw, making the score 18-14 in favor of the Great Danes.
• Starting at 10:44 the Great Danes went on a six-point run with Amir Lindsey, Marshall, and Joshua all making layups to make the score 24-17 UAlbany.
• UMBC ended UAlbany's run at 8:27 with a good layup, putting the score at 24-29 still in favor of the Great Danes.
• The Great Danes would go on another run to add seven points to the board, with Marshall putting up four points and Kheni Briggs adding three from beyond the arc. This run was ended by two good free throws for the Retrievers making the score 23-34, UAlbany still in the lead.
• The Retrievers would get a five-point run at 3:13, which was ended by Neely who put up two to make the score 29-28 in favor of the Great Danes.
• Neely ended the half on a high note for the Great Danes, making two free throws, and a last-second field goal, allowing UAlbany to go into the second half with a 43-28 lead.
• UMBC opened scoring in the second half with two field goals to put the score 43-34, with UAlbany still leading.
• Neely struck first for the Great Danes, extending their lead to 45-32.
• Starting at 15:42 Marshall and DeMarr Langford Jr. went 4-4 on free throws, giving UAlbany a 42-54 lead.
• Over the next few minutes, UAlbany and UMBC exchanged points, with the Great Danes managing to keep their lead, the score 62-54 at 11:06.
• The two teams continued to exchange points, UMBC managing to cut UAlbany's lead to three at 8:04, the score 66-63 in favor of UAlbany.
• Joshua put up a field goal at 7:39 to up the Great Danes' lead to five, leading 68-63
• Marshall delivered a crucial three-pointer at 4:51 to put UAlbany up 73-76.
• At 4:35 UMBC put up two, which was quickly evened out by two good free throws by Kacper Klaczek keeping the Great Danes in the lead by a score of 75-68.
• The Retrievers went on a seven-point run to tie up the score 75-75, stopping UAlbany's lead for the first time since the beginning of the game.
• Joshua scored a needed free throw at 0:53 to put the Great Danes up 76-75 before coming back and getting two more right away to make it 77-75 in favor of UAlbany.
• Joshua made two more free throws at 0:45 to extend the UAlbany lead to 79-75.
• UMBC cut UAlbany's lead back to three with a field goal at 0:24, the score 79-77 Great Danes
• The Retrievers followed up with two free throws to put the score back even at 79-79 at 0:11, ending regulation and pushing the game to overtime.
• Neely opened overtime scoring with a layup, putting the Great Danes ahead 81-79
• Starting at 4:20 UMBC went on a 12-point run to put the Retrievers up 91-81 with 0:23 left in overtime.
• UAlbany came up with six points but fell short with UMBC taking the win 87-92.

UP NEXT: UAlbany men's basketball returns to the Broadview Center in Albany, N.Y. on Saturday, January 25 at 4:00 pm when they'll host NJIT.