Baltimore – UMBC nearly came all the way back from a 22-point second-half deficit but fell just short against the American Eagles, 87-85, on Friday evening at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
 
Retriever guard Bryce Johnson scored a career-high 31 points to pace UMBC, who dropped to 5-10 on the season. Johnson connected on 11-of-16 field goal attempts and went 6-for-9 from behind the arc. The six treys tied his career-best and was also a season-high. Sophomore guard Dion Brown (8 rebounds), UMBC leading scorer, was held to nine points and fouled out late in the second half.  Graduate student forward Max Lorca-Lloyd recorded eight points, eight rebounds and added a pair of blocks.
 
The hosts jumped out to a 15-8 advantage 5:11 into the contest as Johnson scored eight quick points. American, however, scored nine straight points to take their first lead of the night at 17-15 with 13:19 left in the stanza.
 
UMBC was within 26-23 after graduate student Khydarius Smith made a pair of free throws with 8:54 left in the half but the visitors reeled off 13 consecutive points over the next 3:30 to claim a 16-point lead and settled for a 47-31 lead at intermission.
 
American's lead grew to 22 points with 13:51 left after Elijah Stephens converted a floater in the lane.
 
UMBC still trailed by 22 with 12:18 remaining but continued to fight back. The Retrievers went on a 16-6 run to trim the deficit to 76-64 at the 8:15 mark as Johnson capped the spurt with a triple.
 
American (6-7) answered back with five straight points to grab an 81-64 edge with 6:42 left, however, Brown buried back-to-back treys and then junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. followed with a trifecta to trim the deficit to 81-73 with 4:44 on the clock.
 
Lorca-Lloyd and sophomore forward Regimantas Ciunys then scored consecutive buckets in the paint to bring UMBC within just four points, completing a 13-0 run for the hosts.
 
The visitors stopped the bleeding by making 3-of-4 free throws to increase their lead to 84-77 with just 1:07 remaining.
 
UMBC managed to close within 85-83 after freshman guard Franck Emmou drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 12 seconds left.
 
Sprouse, however, made two free throws with six seconds left to ice the game before Lorca-Lloyd's dunk with one second left.

The Retrievers made a season-high 16 3s as they went 16-for-33 (48.5 percent) on the night. American drained 15-of-31 (48.4 percent) from behind the arc and finished 31-of-58 (53.4 percent) overall.

UMBC outrebounded the visitors by a 37-31 margin and had 11 offensive boards compared to just five by the Eagles.


 
UMBC will host Bryant next Saturday in their America East opener.