Box Score Burlington, VT– UMBC junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. buried a career-high six three-point field goals, but the Retrievers dropped a 77-72 decision against the Vermont Catamounts, in an America East Conference contest on Thursday evening at Patrick Gymnasium.
 
Banks, who also grabbed eight rebounds, scored 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second stanza as he connected on 6-of-10 from behind the arc for the game. Sophomore guard Dion Brown added 15 points and nine caroms while graduate student Max Lorca-Lloyd contributed a career-high 10 points along with three blocks.
 
The hosts (12-5, 2-0 America East) led for nearly the entire contest as the Catamounts jumped out to a 17-4 advantage at the 11:27 mark of the opening half.
 
The Retrievers closed the gap to 26-19 with 7:13 remaining after Banks drilled his first triple of the night but Vermont went on a 19-10 run to grab their largest lead of the half, 45-29 with 48 ticks left. The Catamounts settled for a 45-32 lead at the break as Brown connected on his only trey of the night just before halftime.
 
UMBC (5-12, 0-2 America East) refused to go away without a fight in the second half as they closed to 53-46 with 14:01 left. Banks capped a 14-8 spurt with back-to-back 3's and Brown scored six points during the stretch.
 
Vermont answered with five consecutive points, however, UMBC responded with seven straight of their own to trim the deficit to 58-53 with 10 minutes left. Lorca-Lloyd opened the spurt with consecutive buckets in the paint and Banks drilled another trifecta.
 
The visitors were still within just five, 60-55, after a driving hoop by Brown with 8:27 left, but Vermont reeled off eight straight points to widen their lead to 68-55 with just 5:33 remaining.
 
UMBC was never able to get closer than five points the rest of the way.
 
TJ Hurley led four Catamounts in double-figures with 14 points and was 3-for-4 from downtown.
 
The Retrievers, who have dropped seven straight, will travel to UMass Lowell on Saturday afternoon.