BALTIMORE – Senior guard L.J. Owens (Annapolis, Md.) steal and dunk with 28 seconds remaining snapped a 64-all tie and propelled UMBC to a come-from-behind 68-64 win over Hartford at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

The Retrievers (12-10, 7-4) have won six consecutive games, one shy of the seven straight they won a season ago. UMBC now occupies sole possession of second place in the America East Conference.  

UMBC trailed, 60-54 with 3:04 remaining but senior guards Jacob Boonyasith (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Darnell Rogers (Baltimore, Md.) drained back-to-back treys to knot the game at 62-all at 2:39 mark. The teams exchanged a field goal and two free throws apiece before Owens' theft in the open court and coast-to-coast dunk.

Hartford's D.J. Mitchell missed a corner trey with 13 seconds left and the 5'2" Rogers snared the rebound and sealed the win by netting a pair of free throws with eight seconds left.

"Obviously, an exciting basketball game and I give the whole team credit for continuing to trust each other, stay connected and grind it out," said Head Coach Jim Ferry. "We showed a lot of grit."       

Rogers led the way with 19 points, leading four Retrievers in double figures. Senior guard Keondre Kennedy (Atlanta, Ga.) battled foul trouble and scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half, while Owens tallied all of his 11 points in the final 20 minutes. He added four steals, while junior forward Yaw Obeng-Mensah tallied 12 points and added a game-high 9 rebounds.   

The Retrievers trailed by as many as 11 points early in the second half, but outscored UH, 46-33, in the second half. After a listless first half, UMBC hit 15-of-26 shots (57.7 percent) from the floor, 6-of-10 from long range and all 10 free throw attempts in the final 20 minutes.

UMBC will kick off a rough stretch of four games in eight days, with three on the road, at UMass Lowell on Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• UMBC took an early 9-5 lead at 15:10 mark, but the Hawks took their first lead after a 5-0 run.
• Kennedy got into foul trouble and went to the bench with a pair of fouls less than six minutes into the game and did not re-enter in the first half. UMBC's two leading scores, Kennedy and Owens, combined for three first half points.
• After blazing the nets from long distance in the previous games, the teams misfired on 12 of their first 15 attempts from long range. The Retrievers started the game 1-of-12 until a Rogers' trey snapped the skid.  
• Both squads continued to struggle from the floor and the hosts held a narrow 16-15 lead at the 6:58 mark of the first half.
• Turnovers started to creep into UMBC's game and the teams went into the final media time-out of the half (3:29) knotted at 20-all
• The Hawks used a 14-2 final run to build a 31-22 halftime advantage. Hartford's Moses Flowers buried three consecutive treys in the final 90 seconds of the half.  
• The Retrievers had scored 51 first half points four days ago versus UNH.
• Kennedy scored 13 of UMBC's first 20 points of the second half.
• Obeng-Mensah's inside finish capped a 10-1 Retriever run which sliced the deficit to 45-44 at the 9:24 mark, but back-to-back treys by UH's Traci Carter halted the run.

UMBC has won four straight games versus Hartford to take a 21-20 overall series lead.