Baltimore - The UMBC men's basketball team rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to take a late lead but eventually fell to the Boston University Terriers, 75-71, on Saturday afternoon at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

"I didn't think we defended great in the first half, and then in the second half, I thought we were fantastic," said UMBC head coach Jim Ferry. "We outscrapped them and fought back to take the lead with a few minutes left. You've got to win that game at home, so it's frustrating."

Graduate student Josh Odunowo scored a career-high 23 points and grabbed a team-high six boards to pace the Retrievers. The forward went 7-for-14 from the floor and made a career-high 9-of-11 free throws. Senior guard Bryce Johnson scored 18 points, including 13 in the second half, while classmate Marlon Short (3 steals) was also in double-figures with 10 points.

UMBC (3-4) trailed 62-51 with 10:20 remaining in the contest but scored 14 straight points to claim a 54-51 edge with just 3:52 remaining.

Odunowo scored seven points during the spurt, including two free throws that cut the deficit to 62-61 with 5:56 remaining. Johnson then converted a layup with 5:17 left to give the hosts their first lead, 63-62, since the late stages of the opening half. 

After neither team could score on consecutive possessions, Johnson converted a driving layup after a BU turnover to stake the Retrievers to the 3-point lead just before the final media timeout.

Matai Baptiste evened the game at 65-all with a trey from the left wing at the 3:25 mark, but Johnson converted two free throws to give UMBC a 67-65 edge with just over three minutes left. It would be UMBC's final lead of the day as Miles Brewster converted a layup, Baptsite swished two free throws, and Kyrone Alexander scored in the paint to give the Terriers a 71-67 lead with 1:26 remaining.

Odunowo hit two from the line to cut the deficit to 71-69 with 1:14 remaining, but Brewster answered with a layup with a minute left.

Johnson calmly hit two from stripe to inch the hosts within 73-71 with 15 ticks left, but Ben Palacios made two on the other end with 12 seconds left for the game's final points.

Brewster finished with a team-high 18 points while Baptiste recorded 13 points and a team-high nine boards.

BU (2-4) shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) overall and was 9-for-25 (36 percent) from behind the arc.

The Retrievers finished at a 38.2 (21-of-55) percent clip and made 5-of-18 attempts (27.8 percent) from distance. UMBC helped themselves at the line by going a season-best 24-for-26 (92.3 percent)

The Terriers held a 38-27 advantage on the glass, and UMBC's bench was outscored 31-7.

The Retrievers return to The Peake on Monday at 12:00 p.m. versus Howard.