FARMVILLE, Va. – Junior Marvin Price scored a career-high 15 points, but cold second half shooting doomed Western Carolina in a 91-75 loss against UMBC in the Jerome Kersey Classic inside Longwood's Willett Hall.

UMBC improves to 2-1 while WCU drops to 1-3.

Price's 15-point effort topped his previous WCU best of 10 points at Wake Forest and NCAA best mark of 14 points against Rio Grande during the 2019-20 season while at Ohio University. Price went 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-6 behind the 3-point line.

Graduate student Nicholas Robinson added 12 points followed by Travion McCray with 11 points and Tyler Harris with 10. Robinson pulled down a team-best seven rebounds.

Darnell Rogers led UMBC with a game-high 23 points followed by Yaw Obeng-Mensah with 13. Obeng-Mensah and Keondre Kennedy both grabbed seven rebounds.

The Catamounts grabbed an early 4-0 advantage before a 10-0 Retriever run gave UMBC the lead just inside the 16-minute mark. After a Byrd layup gave UMBC a 15-11 advantage, the Catamounts scored the next five points as a McCray free throw gave WCU a 16-15 lead with 12:37 remaining. UMBC reclaimed the lead on its next possession with the contest remaining within three points or tied for the next seven minutes.

Following a Rogers layup which evened the score at 31 at the 5:17 mark, WCU went on a 14-6 run capped by a Cam Bacote layup to lead 45-37 with 2:06 to play. UMBC closed the half on a 10-1 run with a Szymon Wojcik 3-pointer sending the Retrievers into halftime with a 47-46 lead.

Rogers sank a pair of free throws to open the second half scoring before McCray tied the contest at 49 with a 3-pointer at the 18:34 mark. UMBC answered with a 6-0 run and after a Harris 3-pointer that brought WCU within three, 55-52 with 17:03 to play, the Retrievers pushed their lead to nine points and kept the Catamounts scoreless for the next four-plus minutes until a Robinson jumper at the 12:46 mark made the score 61-54.

A 3-pointer by Jacob Boonyasith gave the Retrievers a 74-62 lead with 9:14 to play before a three-point play by Madison Monroe cut the WCU deficit to six, 74-68, with just over seven minutes remaining. The Catamounts would get no closer as UMBC quickly pushed its lead back to double digits and maintained their advantage the rest of the way.  

The Catamounts committed 15 turnovers that resulted in 25 UMBC points with nine UMBC miscues resulting in 12 WCU points. UMBC held a slim 36-35 advantage on the glass. For the game, WCU finished 26-for-56 (46.4 percent) from the field, making 61.5 percent of their field goals in the first half compared to 33.3 percent of their second half shots. UMBC finished the game exactly at 50 percent from the field, making 32 of 64 attempts.

WCU continues to play in the Jerome Kersey Classic on Saturday, facing American University for the first time in program history at 7:30 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ (paid subscription required).

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