Baton Rouge, La.-- UMBC men's basketball suffered their first loss of the year, 77-50 at the hands of LSU on Tuesday night. Junior Dimitrije Spasojevic (Vrsac, Serbia) led the way with 14 points and a team-high six rebounds in the loss.

The Retrievers fall to 4-1 while the Tigers improve to 3-1 on the year.

Spasojevic led the way with 14 points adding a team-high six rebounds in the loss. L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary) chipped in 10 points. 

Charles Manning Jr. led the Tigers with 16 points going 5-8 from the floor. Trendon Watford and Darius Days added 12 and 10 respectively for LSU.

The Retrievers came out of the gates strong on the defensive end. UMBC held the Tigers without a field goal for a four-minute stretch. Spasojevic and L.J. Owens provided the offense during that span, hitting field goals to give UMBC a 4-1 lead at the under 16 timeout.

From there, the Retrievers would go on a 9-0 run to give them a 9-1 lead. However, the Tigers would respond using an 11-1 run to take their first lead of the game. That would extend to a 15-1 run before Keondre Kennedy (Atlanta, Ga.) ended the spurt with a jumper in the paint.

LSU ended the half connecting on their last ten field goals to take a 39-23 lead into the locker room. Spasojevic led the way with 10 points with Owens adding five in the opening 20 minutes. 

The Tigers continued where they left off in the first half, extending their lead to as many as 22 early on. However, the Retrievers found an answer with Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Indian Land (SC)/New Mexico JC) hitting a pair of tough driving layups to start chipping away at the deficit. UMBC would hit five of seven from the floor to cut it under 20.

LSU would pull away late, never letting the lead dip below 20 in a 77-50 win over the Retrievers.

UMBC will now head to Jamaica for the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic in Montego Bay. The Retrievers will face Eastern Michigan (Friday, Nov. 22 - 2 pm) and Nicholls State (Sunday, Nov. 24 - 9 pm) in the tournament. Both games will air on CBS Sports Network.