CATONSVILLE, MD – A spirited effort by the Notre Dame of Maryland men's basketball team at the vaunted UMBC arena saw the Gators fall to the Retrievers 102-52. The night was highlighted by an incredible 20-point performance from Marlon Lewis as the Gators kept the game close in the first half.

After an early 5-0 UMBC lead, Lewis got the Gators on the board with a strong drive to the basket. A few possessions later it was Jackson Pugh scoring a nice fadeaway jumper as the shot clock was winding down. Lewis showed he fits well under the bright lights with another tough drive right after the first media timeout as the Gators cut it down to a seven-point deficit.

Ricardo Ross made a shining entrance into the game as he stole a Retriever pass away and slammed it down on the other end. Jahbreco DeCosta scored a turnaround jumper right off the bench, but the UMBC offense started to show signs of life as they started to pull away.

Lewis continued to show his toughness with buckets on three straight possessions to cut the Retriever lead down to 33-20. Pugh was able to immediately snag away a steal and set up Anthony Wright for an alley-oop as the Gators kept the game within striking distance late in the first half. Ross added a corner three, but the Retrievers responded back with three straight long-range shots and took a 48-29 lead into halftime.

After halftime, it was Lewis who continued to carry the offense with a trio of midrange jumpers along with a putback layup to score the first eight Gator points in the second half. Wright was able to add to the cause as he picked a pocket and dunked it down to excite the traveling Gator fans.

"We are going to be good," said Lewis. "We need this type of competition to get us ready for conference competition. I feel like we could have played better and executed our game plan better defensively. I am going to keep saying that until we get it perfect."

Lewis finished with 20 points on 10-18 shooting from the floor along with team highs with six rebounds and two blocks. Ross complimented with seven points while Wright and Dacosta added six each.

"I think that our effort was there," said head coach TJ Jordan. "but at times we didn't necessarily execute how we wanted to. Our guys played hard, and I think they understood that this is all about the bigger picture. The ultimate goals are still ahead of us and we are going to continue to work towards them."

The Gators will enjoy a weekend exhibition game at Radford University before heading back out to Immaculata University on Monday, December 1 at 6 PM. NDM lost the only meeting between the two programs in a 66-56 Immaculata victory in 2023.