BALTIMORE – UMBC sophomore forward Regimantas Ciunys poured in a career-high 22 points and junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. added 20 as the host Retrievers defeated the UAlbany Great Danes, 80-75, in an America East Conference tilt on Saturday afternoon at Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.

"That was a great team win," stated UMBC head coach Jim Ferry. "RC really came in and gave us great energy and the other guys kind of fed off it. This is two games in a row where we took the lead, the other team came back and we were able to finish and win. We weren't able to do that earlier in the season because we have such a young team."
 
Ciunys, who also contributed five rebounds and two blocks, converted 9-of-11 field goal attempts in 27 minutes off the bench. Banks hit 4-of-7 triples and registered five rebounds along with a career-best four steals. Sophomore guard Dion Brown recorded 14 points, a team-high six rebounds and four assists. Brown also became just the eighth UMBC player to score 500 points in a single season. Graduate student forward Max Lorca-Lloyd registered a career-high 13 points and added a game-high three rejections.

"The coaches have been giving me a lot of support and have told me to stay ready," Ciunys said. "I played good basketball against them {UAlbany} the first time we played so I was confident that I could play well against them again today. I tried to play off the other guys today. DIon Brown found me a couple of times under the basket and I'm just trying to bring energy on both ends of the floor."
 
UMBC (9-18, 4-8 AE), who swept the season-series from the Great Danes, fell behind 13-11 at the 13:25 mark of the opening half but went on a 12-5 run to grab a five-point lead with 8:22 left in the stanza. Ciunys scored eight points, including a trifecta to ignite the burst.
 
The Great Danes (12-14, 4-7) responded and held a 34-33 advantage after a 3-pointer by Aaron Reddish (21 points, 10 rebounds) with 3:25 left, but freshman guard Franck Emmou and Lorca-Lloyd answered with consecutive layups. The Retrievers settled for a 39-36 halftime edge, the eighth time they have led at the break in conference contests.
 
The visitors held a 50-47 advantage after a dunk by Reddish with 13:27 left, however, the Retrievers went on a 9-2 spurt to claim a 56-52 advantage after a trey by Banks with 11:10 left.
 
UAlbany managed to knot the game for the final time at 58-58 after Reddish hit a triple at the 9:22 mark. 
 
The hosts outscored UAlbany by a 14-4 margin over the next five plus minutes to take their largest lead of the game, 72-62, with 3:58 remaining.  Banks splashed a pair of treys and scored eight points during the pivotal burst.
 
The Great Danes did not go down without a fight as they reeled off nine consecutive points to inch within 72-71 with 1:42 left.  But Brown converted a short jumper in the paint on the next trip down to make it 74-71.
 
The visitors were still within a point, 74-73, with 1:01 left but Lorca-Lloyd hit a pair of free throws to give the Retrievers a 76-73 edge with twenty-two seconds left.
 
Guard Sebastion Thomas, who scored a game-high 30 points, then missed a layup and UMBC freshman guard Franck Emmou hit two free throws with fifteen ticks left to make it 78-73.
 
Reddish brought the game back to a one possession game after making two from the charity-stripe with five seconds left, however, Brown calmly made two foul shots with four seconds remaining to ice the contest.
 
UMBC will travel to Maine on Thursday evening.