BALTIMORE – UMBC freshman Franck Emmou scored a career-high 16 points, but the host Retrievers were defeated by the Towson Tigers, 89-73, on Saturday afternoon at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

Emmou, who did not play in the opening stanza, buried 5-of-7 field goals, including 2-for-4 from behind the arc. The guard also went 4-for-4 from the foul line in 15 minutes of action.  Graduate student forward Khydarius Smith contributed 14 points, five boards, and two blocks while sophomore guard Dion Brown had 12 points. Freshman point guard Ace Valentine dished a career-best nine assists and added a pair of steals.
 
UMBC (5-7) held a 7-3 advantage after a dunk by Smith at the 17:13 mark of the opening half.  The Tigers went ahead for good, 10-9, following a jumper in the paint by Tyler Tejada with 14:53 left in the stanza.
 
The Retrievers were within just one point, 21-20, after a jump hook in the paint by Smith with 9:42 left, however, the visitors answered with a 12-2 burst to build a 33-22 advantage at the 5:17 mark.  Sophomore guard Christian May, who had 19 first-half points, drained a pair of triples for the Tigers during the spurt.
 
UMBC answered with a 14-7 run to close within 40-36 with 1:36 left in the half. Junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. swished two trifectas to key the stretch for the hosts. May then nailed back-to-back treys for the visitors, who settled for a 46-38 halftime advantage.
 
Towson (5-5) opened the second half on a 14-6 run over the first 4:14 to double their eight-point intermission edge, 60-44. Once again, May was the catalyst as he tallied the first five points of the stanza.
 
The Dawgs managed to get as close as 12 points, 76-64, after Valentine hit a pair of attempts from the line with 5:42 left. The Tigers, however, put the game away by scoring eight of the game's next 10 points to grab an 84-66 lead with just 3:19 remaining.

May paced five Towson players in double-figures with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including 6-for-10 from long-distance.  Tomiwa Sulaiman contributed 16 points while Dylan Williamson had 11 points, eight assists, and four steals. Tejada (14 points) and Charles Thompson (10 points, 8 rebounds) were also in double-digits.
 
The Tigers doubled up the hosts on the glass, 42-21, and garnered 16 offensive caroms compared to just three by the Retrievers. Towson held a 20-0 advantage in second chance points for the contest.
 
UMBC shot 50 percent (28-of-56) overall but struggled from long-range as they made just 6-of-21 attempts for a 28.6 percent mark. They did shoot 84.6 percent from the line as they converted 11-of-13 attempts.
 
The visitors shot 52.2 percent (35-of-67) overall and a solid 42.3 percent from distance, knocking down 11-of-26 tries. They converted 8-of-13 attempts (61.5 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
UMBC will travel to Saint Peter's on Tuesday evening.