BALTIMORE – UMBC knocked down 8-of-13 shots from behind the arc in the final 20 minutes and outlasted a tough Lafayette squad, 71-63, in an afternoon affair at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

Junior Matteo Picarelli led five Retrievers in double figures, recording career bests in points (19) and 3-point field goals (5).

Picarelli was one of two UMBC reserves to amass double digits, as graduate student forward Jarvis Doles added 11 points.

Lafayette's Leo O'Boyle led all scorers with 22 points.

The Retrievers improved to 2-2 on the season, while the road-weary Leopards fell to 0-4.

COACH FERRY'S TAKE:
That's a difficult team to defend. They're making 10, 11, 12 threes a game and we were able to hold them to six, I thought we did a really good job of guarding the perimeter."

"Matteo was huge for us. He made some huge plays, some big shots for us. Colton played well in the second half and Craig
Beaudion did a good job of keeping our tempo up. Jarvis Doles really settled us down in the first half."

"That was a really good team win. I'm proud of the way our team bounced back from a poor showing the other day."    

HOW IT HAPPENED – FIRST HALF

• UMBC misfired on its first five treys of the game, as Lafayette opened up a 10-2 lead at the 13:26 mark.
• Jarvis Doles gave UMBC a spark off the bench, scoring six points as UMBC trimmed the deficit to 17-16 on a Matteo Picarelli trey with 6:19 remaining.  
• The Retrievers took their first lead of the half at 23-21 on a Jacob Boonyasith jumper with 65 seconds to play, but the Leopards converted a three-point play on the ensuing possession and took a 24-23 halftime lead.

FIRST HALF STATS

• Doles led the Retrievers with 8 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
• Defense ruled the first 20 minutes as the two teams misfired on 21-of-26 shots from 3-point range.

HOW IT HAPPENED – SECOND HALF

• Picarelli capped an early 9-1 Retriever run with a trey and gave the hosts a 34-28 lead just 2:05 into the stanza.
• The junior from Milan buried the squad's fifth trey of the half (in seven attempts) to put UMBC ahead, 47-35 (12:32).
• UMBC led, 50-37, but the Leopards went on a 20-8 scoring run to climb as close as 58-57 with 2:55 remaining.
• Picarelli's fifth trey extended the lead back to 65-59, but back-to-back Leopard field goals brought the guests to within 66-63 with 65 seconds remaining.
• On the ensuing possession, graduate student Craig Beuadion II hit a line drive trey to restore the lead to 69-63 with 35 seconds remaining and he cemented the win by coming down with a rebound and sinking two free throws 15 seconds later.

NOTES AND STATS

• After shooting 35.7 percent from the floor in the first half, UMBC knocked down 52.5 percent (12-of-23) in the final 20 minutes. Lafayette shots 49.0 percent for the game, but the Retrievers held them to 6-of-21 shooting from behind the arc.
• UMBC's Colton Lawrence scored all 14 of his points in the second half. He added a team-best seven rebounds. Jacob Boonyasith and Beaudion added 10 points each.    
• Picarelli's previous scoring high was 11 points, posted at Tulane in the opener.

UMBC faces Central Connecticut State at Chesapeake Arena on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Lafayette and CCSU face off on Saturday at noon on the Retrievers' home floor.