Cock punch: The UMBC Review

I got to see my second in-person BU game of the season, and it was a good one -- not as good as the 2OT UMBC game from two weeks ago, but that's probably a good thing.

Considering this game was directly up against BU's Beanpot game, I figure there were exactly 6 BU fans who saw this game... and they were all in the stands at the RAC (I don't think Comcast SportsNet or MASN got the BU audience they were hoping for). It was our group of 3, plus Corey Lowe's uncle and his ladyfriend and two other BU fans, one of whom was wearing a hockey jersey. Now, we all know my feelings on this, but I appreciate his dedication. But if you're out there reading this dude, can you just explain it to me: you're obviously a huge BU hockey fan, huge enough to wear a hockey jersey to a bball game... and the BEANPOT was going on! I'm baffled.

C_Lowe's uncle is The Man. We recognized each other from when we met at past BU-UMBC games, since he lives in Maryland somewhere. After the game I tried to talk him into going to Albany for the conference tournament, I may have even offered him a ride, I can't remember.

Anyway, the game was highly entertaining. BU was wearing the home whites, since UMBC was doing a "Blackout the RAC" dealio and wore their black unis. When we got to the game a little late due to the famous DC traffic snarls, BU was losing 16-6. We sat down directly behind the BU bench, and the team immediately went on a 19-0 run. Obviously we were the spark that the team needed. Well, either us or Jake O'Brien, who had a career high 25 points.

UMBC kept it close for most of the second half, until we pulled away nicely at the end. UMBC happens to play even less guys than we do, so foul trouble was a factor. The turning point, and the most exciting part of the game, is when with about 4 minutes left UMBC frosh Chauncey Gilliam punched Matt Wolff in the nuts. For realz. They were lined up next to each other for a free throw, and in the process of "boxing out" Gilliam threw a left fist behind him directly into Matt's pills. Problem was, nobody in the arena saw any of this, including the refs, we just saw Matt writhing around holding about a pound of Aunt Betty's nut butter. Then Matt got fired up, Orlando Vandross got fired up, and the refs went to to video tape. Indeed, they said, Gilliam sent Matt on a trip to Bangkok, and so they ejected him. I couldn't see any of this, but we just heard massive booing from the student section. Unless they were saying Booo-urns. Anyway, I Tivo'd the game and checked out the reply, and they made the right call - it was a really bad cheap shot.

The crowd got so fired up that Matt missed his first free throw, which made them even more fired up. I was slightly worried about our 7 point lead. But then Johnny Holland came through with back-to-back 3-pointers, complete with shushing motions to the crowd, and everyone on UMBC except for Darryl Proctor lost the will to keep playing. It was a blowout after that.

Nice win on the road for our boys.