ALBANY - The University at Albany didn't play its best on Wednesday evening, but they don't ask how, they ask if.

The Great Danes were able to claw and scrape their way to a 73-72 double overtime victory over UMBC, in front of 2,145 fans at SEFCU Arena.

UAlbany (2-0, 8-7) got a career-high 27 points from Peter Hooley and 20 points and 12 rebounds from Sam Rowley, but it was John Puk's single free throw with 0.4 seconds remaining that sealed the victory.

The Retrievers were poised to pull the upset, as freshman Rodney Elliott scored 22 and Devarick Houston added 19. UMBC (0-2, 4-11) is now 0-10 on the road this season, including 0-2 in America East play. 

ALBANY - The University at Albany didn't play its best first half of the seasons.

The Great Danes bounced back from an early deficit and lead UMBC by one, 27-26, at halftime.

Sam Rowley led the way with 12 points for UAlbany.

The Retreievers got eight points from Bryan Harris, off the bench.

Coming off a night where they made a Division I program record 16 3-pointers, UAlbany shot just 1-for-6 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes.

AP

ALBANY - By the end of the season, Mike Black and Jacob Iati may be able to write a book about their numerous injuries.

Iati drove Black to the SEFCU Arena on Thursday -- the University at Albany guards didn't discuss Black's recently rolled ankle or Iati's arthritic Achilles'.

The two had a lot of time ahead of them to discuss injuries, as the team boarded an evening bus taking them to Maine, a day early due to the impending storm.

“I guess we’ll have a gimp competition, on the way to Maine, on the bus," said Iati, before the Great Danes practice.

Black sprained the ankle in Wednesday's 79-56 victory at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

UAlbany's senior guard only played nine minutes (scored nine points) and was really a non-factor. While he's said to be day-to-day, this quote may hint at Black's status for Saturday's game at Maine.

“If he can play, he’s got to be able to start and he’s got to be able to play heavy minutes," coach Will Brown said.

Brown said the team will prepare as if Black will not play, but they will "play it by ear."

Black hasn't missed any games this season, but he has been taken out of a game because of a hip injury and was slowed in one other game due to food poisoning.

“I thought both games we played well without him," Brown said. "We have played without him, obviously we’re better with him.”

Black will receive round-the-clock treatment from trainer Jay Geiger.

“I’m going to get him as ready as I can," Geiger said.

Geiger said there was a thought of him driving Black home from the game last night, since injuries like an ankle sprain tend to swell with the up-and-down of an airplane, but in the end that wasn't necessary.

Geiger will treat him with a number of different things, including electric treatment, ice, light therapy and he spent time in the whirlpool before the team departed.

Still, Geiger was not totally sure if Black would play, saying everything is a little different on gameday.

The adrenaline -- I wish I had a box of that in the training room," he said.

If Black doesn't play, he would get an additional week to recover, as the Great Danes don't play against until next Saturday (Feb. 16), when they host Hartford.

“Obviously, our best team is with Mike on the floor," Brown said. "But we want to make sure one, he’s healthy enough to play, two, he’s healthy enough where he can make an impact and three, he’s not going to hurt himself any further.”

University at Albany coach Will Brown talks about his team's upcoming game against UMBC.

University at Albany coach Will Brown talks about his team's 65-48 America East Conference victory over UMBC on Wednesday evening.

ALBANY - The University at Albany picked up its first America East Conference victory on Wednesday evening.

Jacob Iati and Mike Black combined for 32 points and the Great Danes (1-0, 12-3) won with relative ease, knocking of UMBC 65-48.

Next up, is a big test against Vermont, on Saturday afternoon, at Patrick Gym.

ALBANY - University at Albany didn't play its best half, but they are out in front of their first league opponent of the year.

Jacob Iati scored eight of the Great Danes' first 10 points and finished the half with a game-high 10. Mike Black was slow getting started, but he scored nine straight UAlbany points.

Brian Neller leads UMBC with eight points, while Ryan Cook added seven.

Below Will Brown talks about his team's 87-76 victory over UMBC on Wednesday.

ALBANY - UAlbany got the job done.

It wasn't a blowout and it might not have been pretty, but the Great Danes (7-3, 15-9) earned their third straight victory on Wednesday evening, 87-76, over UMBC.

UAlbany led by as many as 24 points, midway through the second half, but UMBC (2-8, 3-18) didn't go away. 

Gerardo Suero scored a game-high 32 points and Logan Aronhalt added 21 for the Great Danes. 

Ryan Cook led the Retrievers with 28 points.

UAlbany has a big matchup with first-place Stony Brook, on Saturday, in the Big Purple Growl.

ALBANY - This game is certainly being played at UAlbany's pace.

The Great Danes got 21 points in the first half from Gerardo Suero and lead by 10 at intermission.

Suero is 6-for-9 from the floor and finished the first 20 minutes, 8-for-8 from the free throw line. 

Ryan Cook leads the Retrievers with 13 points, while Brian Neller added eight.

The Great Danes led by 17, 44-27, following a 3-pointer from Jacob Iati, but the Retreivers went on a 7-0 lead to end the half and make it a game.

UAlbany certainly is the more talented team and they are just 20 minutes away from moving to 9-0 on the home court.

J.S. Carras/The Record

The University at Albany begins a three-game homestand on Wednesday, when they host the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

The Great Danes are 8-0 at home and 6-3 in the America East.

These next three games will go a long way in determining where UAlbany finishes in the conference standings.

“It’s a tough stretch," said sophomore Luke Devlin. "It’s something, where if we can emerge, hopefully with three wins, that’ll put us in a very good position to finish up the conference season.”

Gerardo Suero is now eighth in the country in scoring at 21.1 points per game. He is the leading scorer in the league.

UMBC AT UALBANY

When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: SEFCU Arena (4,538), Albany . 
Radio: WOFX 980-AM (Zach Bye) 
2011-12 Records: UMBC (2-6, 3-17) UAlbany (6-3, 14-9)  
Last Meeting: UAlbany 89,  UMBC 72 at Retrievers Activities Center, Baltimore, Md., on Jan. 5, 2012 — UAlbany leads the all-time series 13-6

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
UMBC

No./Name    Pos.    Yr.    Ht.    Avg.
11    Jarrel Lane     G    Fr.    6-0     2.4 
12    Ryan Cook    G    Jr.    6-2    12.0
15    Brian Neller    G    Jr.    6-4    11.4 
1        Chase Plummer    F    So.    6-6    14.0
34    Jake Wasco    F    Sr.    6-8    4.4

UALBANY

No./Name    Pos.    Yr.    Ht.    Avg.   
10    Mike Black    G    Jr.    6-0    13.3
2        Logan Aronhalt    G    Jr.    6-3    15.7
20    Gerardo Suero    G     Jr.    6-4    21.1
11    Luke Devlin    F    So.    6-8    6.4
21    Blake Metcalf    C    Jr.    6-9    4.3

AMERICA EAST STANDINGS

School    Conference    Overall
Stony Brook     8-1    13-7
Vermont    7-2    13-10
Boston U.    7-2    11-12
UAlbany    6-3     14-9
Maine    4-5    10-10
Hartford    4-5    4-17
UMBC     2-6    3-17
New Hampshire    2-7    7-13
Binghamton    0-9     0-21

Today’s Games

UMBC at UAlbany     7 p.m.
Vermont at Boston U.    7 p.m.
Binghamton at Stony Brook    7 p.m.
Hartford at New Hampshire    7 p.m.

BALTIMORE, Md. — The University at Albany men’s basketball team has shown the ability to score the ball this season.

For the second straight game, the Great Danes set a season-high in points, defeating the University of Maryland-Baltimore Country 89-72 on Thursday evening.

The victory puts UAlbany (10-6) at 2-0 in America East Conference play for the first time since the 2005-06 season, when the team earned their first trip to the NCAA tournament.

“This was a big one to get,” said UAlbany coach Will Brown. “I’m proud of our guys.”

The Great Danes, won their 10th game last year on Jan. 20, when they were 10-12 overall.

“We just did a good job overall,” Brown said. “A lot of guys contributed.”

Leading the way, as has been for most of the year, was the trio of Logan Aronhalt, Gerardo Suero and Mike Black.

The three juniors all scored 22 points to lead the Great Danes offense.

Early in the game, though, it didn’t look good.

UMBC (1-1, 2-12) jumped out to a 10-0 lead through the first five minutes.

“When it rains, it pours,” Brown said. “They were coming off a big win versus New Hampshire.”

UAlbany quickly turned things around though and after falling behind by 14, 23-9, ended the half on a 42-17 run to take a 51-40 lead into the break.

The Great Danes did a lot of their damage at the free throw line, finishing 30-for-40 (75%) from the stripe.

“We’re at our best when we’re attacking the basket,” Brown said.

Chase Plummer scored a game-high 25 points for the Retrievers. 

“Plummer’s good,” Brown said. “He shot the lights out tonight.”

Luke Devlin added 10 points for the Great Danes, which improved to 8-1, when they score more than 75 points this season.

“We can score,” Brown said. “Especially, when we share the basketball.”

UAlbany travels to Stony Brook on Sunday, in what will be an early season matchup of the only 2-0 teams in the league.

“We have a big one on Sunday, against Stony Brook,” Brown said.

Jeff Couch/The Record

This game got much more interesting at approximately 9:25 p.m., on Monday evening.

Every person in the room asked or wondered out loud about the UMBC/New Hampshire score.

Once it was confirmed that the Retrievers had won, doubling their win total in the process, it was clear that the UAlbany players were a little more focused on their next league task.

The Great Danes will be playing to go to 2-0 in conference play, for the first time in six years, when the team started America East play 5-1 and went on to play in the program's first NCAA tournament.

Needless to say this is a big game, even though it's against a 2-11 team.

UALBANY AT UMBC

When: Tonight, 7 p.m.
Where: Retriever Activities Center (3,284), Baltimore, Md.
2011 Records: UAlbany (1-0, 9-6) UMBC (1-0, 2-11)
Last Meeting: UAlbany 83, UMBC 67, on Feb. 23, 2011, at SEFCU Arena, Albany - UAlbany leads the all-time series 12-6

PROBABLE STARTERS

UALBANY

No., Name, Pos., Yr., Ht., Ppg.
10, Mike Black, G, Jr., 6-0, 12.1
2, Logan Aronhalt, G, Jr., 6-3, 15.1
20 Gerardo Suero, G, Jr., 6-4, 22.1
11, Luke Devlin, F, So., 6-8, 6-5
21, Blake Metcalf, C, Jr., 6-9, 4.2

UMBC

3, Quentin Jones, G, So., 6-0, 5.5
12, Ryan Cook, G, Jr., 6-2, 13.0
15, Brian Neller, G, Jr., 6-4, 12.7
1, Chase Plummer, F, So., 6-6, 13.6
34, Jake Wasco, F, Sr., 6-8, 3.8

AMERICA EAST STANDINGS

Team, Conference, Overall
UAlbany, 1-0, 9-6
Maine, 1-0, 7-5
Stony Brook, 1-0, 6-6
UMBC 1-1, 2-11
Boston U., 0-0, 4-10
New Hampshire, 0-1, 5-7
Vermont, 0-1, 6-9
Binghamton, 0-1, 0-13
Hartford, 0-1, 0-13

Today's Schedule

UAlbany at UMBC, 7 p.m.
Boston U. at Vermont, 7 p.m.
New Hampshire at Hartford, 7 p.m.
Stony Brook at Binghamton, 7 p.m.

AP

The University at Maryland-Baltimore County released a statement today saying that senior Chris De La Rosa is leaving the team, due to personal and family-related matters.

This is a big loss for the Retrievers, who were picked to finish seventh in the America East preseason poll.

De La Rosa was a preseason all-conference selection and last year, was a second team America East player.

"Obviously, we were disappointed to learn of Chris' decision, but understand the personal reasons behind it," UMBC coach Randy Monroe, said in a statement. "I felt he was a Player of the Year candidate in our league this year. We will miss him and wish him nothing but the best."

Back in 2007-08, De La Rosa played at Siena, on a team that finished 23-11 and reached the NCAA tournament, under coach Fran McCaffery.

De La Rosa played in both NCAA games, against Vanderbilt and Villanova, scoring five points in the second round loss to the Wildcats.

UAlbany coach Will Brown talks about his team's 83-67 victory over UMBC on Wednesday evening at SEFCU Arena.

ALBANY - The UAlbany team played a great game on Wednesday night, sending their seniors out in style.

Logan Aronhalt scored 19, Mike Black finished with 18 and Tim Ambrose chipped in 17 as the Great Danes improved to 8-7 in the America East Conference.

Chris De La Rosa scored a game-high 25 points for UMBC, who was down big right from the start.

The Great Danes shot terrific, 54 percent (30-55) and also got 12 points off the bench from Luke Devlin.

UAlbany ends the season on Sunday at Maine.

ALBANY -If there was any emotional hangover from the Senior Night festivities it wasn't evident as the Great Danes streaked out to a 13-3 halftime lead, hitting their first five shots.

It didn't slow down from there.

The Great Danes played one of their best halves of the year and have a big lead at halftime.

UAlbany shot an unbelievable 57 percent (16-28) and was led by both Logan Aronhalt and Mike Black, who each have 10 points.

Former Siena guard Chris De La Rosa leads the Retrievers with 13 points.

If UAlbany wins and Stony Brook beats Hartford, the Great Danes will be the No. 4 seed and play in the first quarterfinal next Saturday (March 5) at the University of Hartford.

From our stringer in Baltimore.

By Harvey Valentine
For The Record

Catonsville, Md. – As they were walking off the court trailing by 12 points at halftime Wednesday night in what University at Albany coach Will Brown stopped just short of calling a must win game, Brown pulled aside senior guard Tim Ambrose, who had scored 16 of the Great Danes’ 27 first-half points.

“I told him to go in and blast them,” Brown said of Ambrose, the team’s lone senior and the only Great Dane who didn’t look sluggish during the first half against the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).

While Brown waited outside the locker room for several minutes, Ambrose did just that and his teammates responded by rallying for 66-63 win over the Retrievers at the RAC Arena.

“I told them that we had to go out there and have fun, that we don’t have any fans here and we have to bring more energy,” Ambrose said in providing a newspaper friendly account of his message. “I told them it’s on us. The coaches can tell us what they want us to do, but it’s on us to come out and execute. The second half everybody came out with energy and we pulled it out.”

Sophomore guard Logan Aronhalt led the Great Danes with 28 points, tying a career high with six three pointers, and Ambrose finished with 25. Sophomore guard Mike Black scored all eight of his points in the second half, including to go-ahead basket with 21 seconds remaining.

“Logan’s a rhythm guy and when he gets a lot of shots he gets a confidence,” Brown said of Aronhalt, who scored 20 points in the second half. “Earlier in the year we were relying on our Big Three as we call them, Ambrose, Aronhalt and Black. The past couple of weeks we’ve been getting great balance from everybody else. Well today, everybody else struggled and Timmy carried us in the first half and Logan and Mike kind of carried us in the second half.”

In winning their third straight game for the first time since January of 2009, the Great Danes improved to 4-4 in the America East Conference and 11-12 overall.

“I told the team this was a separation game for us,” Brown said. “We want to get into the top four in the conference and separate ourselves from the other teams. I didn’t say it was a must win game, but I told them it was very important.”

Trailing 49-36 with five minutes gone in the second half, the Danes went on 14-2 run to cut the deficit to one. Ambrose started the run with four straight points on a pair of free throws and a driving layup.

After a UMBC basket, Aronhalt scored eight straight points, sandwiching two three-pointers around layup off an offensive rebound.

“Logan is Logan. He can knock down shots from anywhere on the floor and once he gets going he’s tough to guard,” Ambrose said.

Sophomore Blake Metcalf’s layup got UAlbany to within one, 51-50 with 10 minutes left. Minutes later Ambrose tied the score at 55 with a three-pointer, but UMBC soon went back up by four points with six minutes left and appeared to have weathered the rally.

Then, after three minutes of neither team being able to hold on to the ball consistently much less score, Aronhalt hit a three pointer to pull the Great Danes to within one at 61-60 with 3:09 to play.

The teams then traded baskets and then with about 30 seconds left, UMBC’s junior guard, Chris De La Rosa, missed a jumper, the Danes came away with the loose ball rebound and Black converted a fast break layup to put UAlbany ahead, 64-63.

The Retrievers were able to get De La Rosa an open look with less than 10 seconds to play, but his long jumper went off the rim. Freshman John Puk grabbed the rebound and after Aronhalt hit two free throws with 1.3 seconds left, the Retrievers were unable to get off another shot.

De La Rosa, a former Siena Saint, led the Retrievers with 15 points. UMBC falls to 2-6 in the conference and 3-18 overall.

UAlbany led 14-12 midway through the first half, but UMBC went on a 12-0 run and led by as many as 15 points.

“We just came out flat, maybe we were tired I don’t know, but we didn’t play our best in the first half,” Aronhalt said.

The Retrievers entered the game last in the conference in scoring defense, surrendering an average of 80 points per game, but the Great Danes shot just 26 percent (10-of-39) over the first 20 minutes.

Ambrose, who now sits in seventh place all-time on the UAlbany scoring list with 1,425 points, kept the Danes close, hitting six of his 13 attempts and adding three free throws.

The University at Albany players know who they need to stop to be successful on Wednesday against UMBC.

Some in the Capital District may even remembers the name Chris De La Rosa.

De La Rosa played his freshman season at Siena College, and played in the 2008 NCAA Tournament against Vanderbilt and Villanova.

This season, De La Rosa is really playing well for the Retrievers, who are just 3-17 overall, but have won two of their last three games.

The 5-10 junior guard is averaging 17.0 points, 6.3 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game.

He leads the team in scoring and assists and is second behind forward Justin Fry in rebounds.

De La Rosa is second in the America East Conference in scoring, behind just Boston University star John Holland (19.2 ppg).

De La Rosa was just honored by the America East the player of the week, after averaging 17.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.5 assists in three games last week.

I had a chance to ask Siena coach Mitch Buonaguro about De La Rosa Tuesday afternoon.

"He's a talented player," Buonaguro said.

The University at Albany has ended their long eight-game losing streak and pulled back into eighth place with a 75-62 victory over UMBC on Saturday night.

Scotty McRae tied for game-high honors with 19 points, while Tim Ambrose added 17 and Mike Black finished with 15 for the Great Danes, who won just their third conference regular season game in their last 21 contests.

Siena transfer Chris De La Rosa led the Retreievers with 19 points and Chauncey Gilliam added 15.