Lowell, MA – UMBC's season came to a heartbreaking end as the No. 7 seeded Retrievers fell in overtime, 94-89, against the No. 2 seeded UMass Lowell River Hawks in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Jersey Mike's America East Men's Basketball Playoffs at Costello Athletic Center.
 
UMBC junior guard Marcus Banks Jr. led the Retrievers in points (24), rebounds (7) and steals (3) while sophomore guard Dion Brown added 18 points and distributed a career and game-high eight assists.  Graduate student forward Khydarius Smith and freshman guard Ace Valentine were also in double-figures with 15 points apiece. Graduate student forward Max Lorca-Lloyd recorded a game-high five blocks.
 
The Retrievers, who finishes the season with an 11-21 record, held the lead for over twenty-six minutes while the hosts were ahead for just under twelve minutes. The contest featured 14 tieds and 13 lead changes before it was finally decided in UMBC's only overtime contest of the campaign.
 
The visitors jumped out to a quick start and took their largest lead of the game at 17-7 with 12:36 left in the opening half. Fifteen of those points came from long-range as UMBC started 5-of-7 from downtown to open the game.  Banks and Brown both hit a pair of triples during the run.
 
UMass Lowell (21-9) responded with a 14-8 spurt to trim the deficit to 25-21 at the 5:31 mark after a trey by Quinton Mincey (27 points, 15 rebounds) and went ahead for the first time in the game, 30-29, after another jumper by Mincey with just over a minute left in the stanza.
 
The hosts took a 32-31 to the locker room at intermission behind Mincey's 12 points.
 
Neither team managed to gain any separation early in the second half as there were three ties within the first 4:50 of the period.
 
The River Hawks broke a 42-42 deadlock with a 10-4 burst to claim a 52-46 advantage with 13:10 left. 
 
UMBC, however, fought right back as Smith came off the bench to score three consecutive buckets to knot the score, 52-52, with 11:34 remaining.
 
The Retrievers continued to apply the pressure as they held a 61-57 advantage after freshman guard Franck Emmou's long trifecta from the top of the key with 9:16 to play.
 
The game would be tied four more times until Brown grabbed an offensive board and found a cutting Valentine for a layup to spot the visitors a 70-68 lead with 3:57 left.
 
The Retrievers still led, 74-72, after a layup by Brown at the 2:14 mark, but Brayden O'Connor (16 points) drove the lane for a layup to even the score with 1:07 remaining.
 
Following a missed three by Banks, Yuri Covington put UMass Lowell ahead, 76-74, with a layup. But Brown came up with a clutch jumper from the left corner to tie the game at 76.
 
Mincey misfired on a long attempt from behind the arc with three ticks left in regulation and the game went into overtime.
 
The River Hawks recorded the first points in the extra session as Covington put in another layup.
 
The hosts then hit 2-of-4 free throws to claim an 80-76 lead with 3:01 left and extended the lead to 84-77 at the 1:45 mark after four more points from the line.
 
Two more free throws from Ayinde Hikim made it 87-79 with just 1:16 on the clock but Banks made two foul shots and then drilled a trey to trim the deficit to 87-84 with fifty-six seconds left.
 
The hosts scored the next four points on four more free throws to claim a 91-84 advantage with forty-three ticks remaining.
 
UMBC junior guard Bryce Johnson gave the Retrievers some hope with a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 91-87 with thirty-six seconds left before O'Connor split two free throws to give the hosts a 92-87 lead just three seconds later.
 
Valentine answered with a layup to make it a one-possession game at 92-89 with twenty-six seconds left but O'Connor swished two more from the charity stripe two seconds later for the final points of the contest.
 
Brown became just the fourth Retriever to score 600 points in a single-season while Banks finished the season with 85 treys, the fourth-most in UMBC's single-season history.