BALTIMORE-- UMBC men's basketball suffered a 75-69 defeat at the hands of Binghamton on Monday afternoon. The Retrievers and Bearcats battled in a see-saw game but it was the Bearcats who would hit their last five shots of the game in the win. Junior R.J. Eytle-Rock (London, England) had 19 points to lead the Retrievers. 

UMBC falls to 7-2, 3-1 AE while the Bearcats pick up their first win and move to 1-6, 1-3 AE. 

Eytle-Rock finished with a team-best 19 points. Keondre Kennedy (Atlanta, Ga.) added 15 points with L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary) adding 11 in the loss. 

Brenton Mills led the way for Binghamton with 22 points on 8-15 shooting. Bryce Beamer chipped in 20 and 10 rebounds for the Bearcats.

Keondre Kennedy began the game right where he left of on Sunday scoring the first five points for the Retrievers to give them an early lead. That was answered by five in arow from Binghamton and Brenton Mills to give the Bearcats their first lead of the half. As was the case yesterday, the whole half was back and forth. L.J. Owens and Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Indian Land (SC)/New Mexico JC) gave UMBC the lead back with back-to-back three's that forced a BU timeout. 

That sparked an 8-0 run capped with a Nathan Johnson (Adel, Iowa) putback to extend the lead. However, the Bearcats would respond holding the Retrievers scoreless for three minutes as part of a 6-0 run. The two would be tied at 32-32 at the break after a Rogers free throw late.

Kennedy led the Retrievers with nine points. R.J. Eytle-Rock added six with Owens and Jacob Boonyasith (Grand Rapids, Mich.) chipping in five. Binghamton outrebounded the Retrievers 27-12 in the half including 11-1 on offensive boards. Those 11 offensive rebounds led to 14 Binghamton second-chance points. 

Binghamton raced out to an early 8-0 run to start the second half and take an eight-point lead. Daniel Akin (London, England) ended the streak with a tough layup inside. The Bearcats would get their lead to nine before the Retrievers started chipping away. 

A quick 9-0 spurt gave the Retrievers the lead after Dimitrije Spasojevic (Vrsac, Serbia) hit a contested layup. But once again the Bearcats responded, ripping off a 7-0 run to take the lead holding the Retrievers scoreless for over five minutes. UMBC got the deficit to within three late, but the Bearcats held on for a 75-69 win. 

UMBC shot 46 percent from the floor, but Binghamton outrebounded the Retrievers 45-26 and 15-1 on the offensive glass and went 15-36 from three. 

The Retrievers are back in action after the new year at Stony Brook on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 2-3 in Long Island. Both games tip-off at 2 p.m. on ESPN+/ESPN3.