Orono, Maine – UMBC sophomore guard
Dion Brown scored a game high 17 points and grabbed a career best 14 rebounds, but the visiting Retrievers fell to the Maine Black Bears, 62-56, in an America East contest on Thursday evening at Memorial Gymnasium.
Brown, who recorded his seventh double-double of the season, hit 7-of-15 field goal attempts and dished five assists. Junior guard
Marcus Banks Jr. added 16 points while freshman guard
Ace Valentine tied his career high with 10 boards.
UMBC (9-19, 4-9 AE), who led 20-16 at halftime, fell behind in the second stanza but tied the game at 54-54 after a two-handed jam by graduate forward
Max Lorca-Lloyd with 1:55 left.
The Black Bears (12-15, 4-8 AE) responded with five consecutive points to take a 59-54 edge with thirty seconds remaining. Forward Peter Filipovity (team-high 13 points) made a pair of free throws and then splashed a trey from the left wing to provide the hosts with the scoring.
Brown scored inside the paint to bring the Retrievers within three points before Filipovity made one-of-two from the charity stripe to make it 60-56 with 16 ticks left.
The Retrievers misfired on three shots in the closing seconds before freshman forward
Alpha Chibambe was fouled with just three seconds left. He missed both of his attempts and Kristians Feierbergs put the game away with two free throws with two seconds on the clock.
The visitors held Maine to just 18.6 percent from the floor in the opening half as the Black Bears went just 6-for-32, including 1-of-10 from deep.
UMBC jumped out to a 10-3 lead at the 12:29 mark but managed only three field goals for the remainder of the stanza.
Maine outscored the Retrievers by a 12-2 margin to start the second half, establishing a 28-22 advantage at the 16:31 mark.
The Retrievers fought right back to claim a 29-28 edge following a layup by Lorca-Lloyd with 14:39 remaining.
After falling behind again, 35-30 with 11:29 left, UMBC reeled off six straight points to claim a 36-35 lead at the 9:27 mark. Brown and Banks opened the run with field goals and freshman guard
Franck Emmou delivered a pair from the line to give the visitors the lead.
Once again, Maine answered as they took a 46-41 lead following a 11-5 spurt. However, UMBC responded with six consecutive points to grab a 47-46 edge with 5:01 left. Banks opened the spurt with two free throws and then knocked down a jumper. Chibambe then gave the visitors the lead with a fast break layup to cap the burst. It was their final lead of the evening.
UMBC will travel to New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon.
