Stony Brook, N.Y.-- UMBC men's basketball fought back late, but the Seawolves defeated the Retrievers, 74-63 on Saturday night. UMBC trailed by as many as 16 in the second half and got the deficit to just nine, but UMBC could not complete the comeback. Dimitrije Spasojevic (Vrsac, Serbia) led the way with 17 points. 

The Retrievers fall to 9-14, 2-6 AE on the year, while the Seawolves improve to 15-8, 6-2 AE. 

Spasojevic ended the night with 17 points on 8-11 shooting. L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary) was the only other Retriever in double figures with 12 points. Brandon Horvath (West River, Md./Southern) added six points and 13 rebounds.

Elijah Olaniyi led the Seawolves with 21 points. Makale Foreman and Andrew Garcia chipped in 18 and 12 points respectively. 

UMBC came out of the gates strong, taking an early lead but the Seawolves would cut it to 6-5 at the first media timeout. Both teams took turns with the lead over the next four minutes, with the Seawolves taking the lead last thanks to a 6-0 run that gave them a five-point lead.

That run would end with Ricky Council (Durham, N.C.) drilling a corner three in transition to make it just a two-point deficit. However, another 6-0 spurt gave Stony Brook an eight-point lead, forcing a UMBC timeout. The Retrievers would go on a six-minute scoring drought that was ended by an L.J. Owens pull-up jumper. 

UMBC found their groove late, connecting on four of their last five with Dimitrije Spasojevic going 3-4 over that stretch to make it 30-25 at the break. R.J. Eytle-Rock (London, England) and Spasojevic led the way with six points each. Brandon Horvath added nine rebounds, however, Stony Brook had eight offensive rebounds that led to eight second chance points. 

The Retrievers would come out of the locker room and cut the deficit to just two, but a 7-0 run by the Seawolves pushed their lead back to nine. An Owens jumper ended the run and sparked a UMBC push to get it to five, but once again Stony Brook had the answer to push their lead out to 16. 

UMBC battled back late, using an 8-1 spurt to cut it to single digits, but the Seawolves kept the Retrievers at bay for a 74-63 win on Saturday.

The Retrievers shot 47 percent in the second half, but Stony Brook forced 12 turnovers and scored 16 points on the fastbreak to hold off the Retrievers.

UMBC returns home on Wednesday to take on Hartford at 7 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+ with tickets available at TicketMaster.com.