BALTIMORE, Md. — Senior Austin Williams secured his second double-double of the season after scoring 16 points and hauling in 13 rebounds to lead the Hartford men's basketball team to 70-63 victory at UMBC on Saturday. 
 
Traci Carter added 16 points,  six assists and five steal, as the Hawks held UMBC without a field goal for the final 3:47 of the game. Hartford, which has now won four its  past five games, (9-5 overall) improves to 6-3 in the America East with the win, while UMBC (9-3) dips to 5-2 in league play.

 

HARTFORD 70, UMBC 63
The Hawks and Retrievers went back-and forth in a closely contested first half.  After sophomore Miroslav Stafl nailed a one-footed fadeaway jumper to give the Hawks a 19-17 lead, UMBC would go on a 6-0 run to quickly regain the lead with less than five minutes remaining in the half.

Hartford would responded an 8-0 run of its own — capped off by a three from sophomore PJ Henry — to take a 27-23 lead with two minutes to go in the half. Both teams would trade buckets in the closing moments as the Hawks entered the halftime break with a slim 31-30 advantage.
 
Hartford started the second half strong, going on a 9-3 run to take a 40-33 lead after Williams grabbed his own miss and made an easy put-back layup, which forced UMBC into taking a timeout. The Hawks would turn their hot start on offense to the defensive side of the ball, holding the Retrievers to a 0-for-7 stretch from the field to build a 47-37 lead with 11:55 remaining in the half.

UMBC's scoring drought continued thanks to Hartford's defense, as the Retrievers were limited to just two free throws at the 5:05 mark. That allowed the Hawks to take a 50-39 advantage on a 7-0 rally. UMBC would break the cold streak, making three straight baskets, including two and-one layups from Ethan Horvath, to cut the Hawks lead to eight with 7:30 left in the game. But Hartford remained strong defensively, coming up with crucial steals to and holding the Retrievers without a field goal over the final 3:54 to hold on for the 70-63 victory.
 
INSIDE THE BOX & NOTES

• Hartford had a trio of double-digit scorers as Stafl (14) joined Carter and Williams
• With his 16-point outing, Williams extended his double-figure scoring streak to seven games, the longest for a Hawk this season
• His 13 rebounds are the most collected by a Hartford player in a game this season
• Stafl also added eight rebounds to go along with one block and one steal
• UMBC held the slight advantage on the boards, outrebounding the Hawks by a  39-37 margin
• The Retrievers were held to just 21.4-percent shooting from long range (6-for-28), and 36.1-percent from the field (22-for-61) on the afternoon
• Hartford went 47.4-percent from the floor

 
NEXT ON TAP
The Hawks and Retrievers return to action at UMBC Event Center with the second of a two-game set Sunday at 1 p.m. on ESPN3.