Navy 73, Maryland-Baltimore County 58

After playing four straight overtime games to tie an NCAA record, Maryland-Baltimore County had a chance to make history on Saturday night at Navy. But the Midshipmen didn't cooperate.

Navy led all the way as forward Worth Smith scored 15 points in a dominating 73-58 victory at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md.

With the win, Navy (3-3) is off to its best start since the 2008-09 season when it opened 7-1.

Saturday's victory was paved by a rare rebounding advantage as the Midshipmen scrapped for 45 rebounds to 33 for the Retrievers. It was a vivid contrast from a 67-42 loss on Tuesday night at Virginia, where Navy needed more than 27 minutes to grab its first offensive rebound.

Contributing to Navy's board work were reserve guard Michael Brown (12 points, seven rebounds), junior guard Brandon Venturini (six points, seven rebounds) and Smith, who collected a game-high nine rebounds.

Navy also got solid play off the bench from two other freshmen. Forward Phil Hemphill scored nine points and guard Zach Fong hit two 3-pointers.

At the defensive end, Navy was led by 6-foot-9 sophomore Will Kelly, who blocked four shots. His presence inside helped the Midshipmen limit the Retrievers to 31 percent shooting from the field.

UMBC (2-4) was led by reserve Chase Plummer, who had 11 points and seven rebounds, both team highs.

With Smith supplying six points, Navy blew out to an 8-0 lead. UMBC's lone moment of promise came when guards Quentin Jones and Rodney Elliott made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to cut the lead to 19-13. But Navy resumed control with a 12-2 run as Brown scored five points and Venturini contributed a 3-pointer.

Early in the second half, Navy achieved its biggest lead at 24 points when Smith scored on a putback dunk in transition.