Baltimore – The host UMBC Retrievers reversed a 16-point first half deficit and went on to defeat the NJIT Highlanders, 72-63, in an America East Conference contest at the Chesapeake Employers Arena on Wednesday evening.
 
UMBC (16-10, 6-5 AE) junior guard Matteo Picarelli (5-of-7 treys) matched his career-high with a game-high 21 points and graduate student forward Tra'Von Fagan recorded his second double-double of the season with 18 points along with a team-high 12 rebounds. Graduate student guard Colton Lawrence chipped in with 15 points.
 
Guard Raheim Sullivan paced NJIT (6-17, 3-7 AE) with 17 points while forward Kevin Osawe contributed a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 14 caroms.

"That was a really good program win tonight after coming off our worst performance of the year at Maine on Saturday," said UMBC Head Coach Jim Ferry. "The guys off the bench were tremendous and our ability to just keep staying in there was great to see and is a credit to this group. I thought the second half was one of the best defensive halves that we've played all year, which we needed to do to win the game."
 
How It Happened (First Half)
- The Highlanders knocked down eight of their first ten field goal attempts and grabbed a 19-3 advantage at the 14:34 mark.
- The Retrievers responded with a 16-3 burst to cut the deficit to 22-19 with 10:41 remaining. Picarelli drilled three of his triples during the stretch and Lawrence also connected from downtown.
- NJIT then scored eight consecutive points to restore a double-digit advantage at 30-19 with 7:04 left in the stanza.
-The Highlanders settled for a 39-28 halftime advantage as they hit 15-of-27 field goals for a 56.6 clip over the first twenty minutes.
 
How It Happened (Second Half)
- UMBC outscored the visitors by a 10-2 margin over the first 2:24 of the second stanza and managed to trim the deficit to 41-38. Graduate student guard Craig Beaudion II swished a trey to open the scoring and senior forward Yaw Obeng-Mensah contributed a pair of buckets.
- NJIT pushed their lead to 46-38 after a layup by Kjell de Graaf with just under 16 minutes remaining.
-The Retrievers still trailed 54-48 at the 11:15 mark but the hosts rattled off nine consecutive points to claim their first lead of the game, 57-54, with 7:26 on the clock. Lawrence evened the game with a driving layup and then Picarelli followed with a 3-pointer after a turnover by the Highlanders.
- Guard Adam Hess brought NJIT within 57-56 after converting a jump shot with 6:36 left but that was as close as the Highlanders would get the rest of the way.
- Senior wing Jacob Boonyasith (game-high 6 assists) drilled a trifecta, his only points of the night, to make it 64-58 with 2:49 left and the Retrievers converted all eight of their free throws to ice the game.
 
Notes
- UMBC shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) in the second half after going just 11-of-29 (37.9 percent) in the first stanza.
- The Retrievers held NJIT to a 30.3 shooting clip in the second half as they made only 10-of-33 attempts.
- UMBC's bench outscored the visitors by a 43-13 margin.
- UMBC is now 12-2 at home this season.
- NJIT won the first contest, 69-65, in Newark, NJ.
 
Up Next
- UMBC will host Bryant on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.