BALTIMORE-- UMBC men's basketball got out to a fast start, but a strong UMass Lowell second half downed the Retrievers, 79-77 on Saturday afternoon. R.J. Eytle-Rock (London, England) led the Retrievers with 18 points and six rebounds with three Retrievers hitting double figures in the loss. 

UMBC ends the year at 14-6 while the River Hawks improve to 11-11. 

Eytle-Rock led three in double figures with 18 points. L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn School/William & Mary) and Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md./Indian Land (SC)/New Mexico JC) chipped in 13 points. Brandon Horvath (West River, Md./Southern) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. 

Connor Withers led the River Hawks with 28 points going 9-13 from three. Obadiah Noel added 22 points in the win. 

The Retrievers pulled ahead early after trailing 5-4 thanks to a 7-0 run to give them an 11-5 lead at the under 16 timeout. Brandon Horvath then started to heat up scoring five straight on a dunk and an and one to push the advantage to 20-9. UMBC would strike again with another 7-0 run, but UMass Lowell responded with five straight to cut it to 11. 

That sparked an 8-0 run for the River Hawks that cut the lead to single digits, but UMBC ended the half with a Dimitrije Spasojevic (Vrsac, Serbia) layup to give UMBC a 40-28 lead at the break.

L.J. Owens and Jacob Boonyasith (Grand Rapids, Mich.) led the Retrievers with eight points each as eight different Retrievers scored in the half shooting 50 percent from the floor. UMBC got 16 points from turnovers and outscored the River Hawks 16-8 in the paint.

UMBC continued their strong run to open the second half, pushing the lead to 16 after a 7-0 run midway through the half. But the River Hawks continued to chip away. They went on a 6-0 spurt to cut it to single digits, but Owens drilled a corner three to push it back to a double digit lead. 

The River Hawks, who shot 60 percent in the second half, kept chipping away, tying the game at 76-76 with a minute to go. Noel would hit a pair of free throws to go up two. Eytle-Rock then went to the line but split a pair as UMBC trailed by one with 22 seconds left. Withers then went 1-2 from the line giving UMBC a chance to tie or win the game. 

Owens had a good look at a three with eight seconds left that was off the mark, and had another chance at the buzzer, but his attempt was blocked as UML held on for a 79-77 win. 

UMBC outrebounded the River Hawks, 36-25, but UML hit 13 triples to complete the comeback.