Burlington, Vermont – The UMBC men's basketball team battled all night but eventually fell to the Vermont Catamounts, 64-55, in a showdown for the America East lead at Patrick Gymnasium on Thursday evening.

Sophomore forward Caden Diggs paced the Retrievers with 14 points in 29 minutes off the bench, while junior forward Jose Roberto Tanchyn added 13 points.  Junior guard Jah'Likai King and graduate student guard DJ Armstrong Jr. each added eight points.

UMBC (12-8. 5-2 AE) struggled offensively as they hit just 17-of-52 field goals for a 32.7 percent clip.  The Retrievers also misfired on 20 of their 26 attempts from behind the arc (23.1 percent).

The game was deadlocked at intermission, 29-29, but UMBC would never take the lead over the final 20 minutes.

The hosts took a 38-33 advantage with 17:04 remaining, but the Dawgs scored five straight to even the score. Junior guard Ace Valentine hit two free throws, and King swished a triple during the mini run.

Vermont (14-8, 6-1 AE) answered with a 10-2 run to grab a 51-42 advantage at the 9:16 mark, but the visitors responded with nine straight points to knot the score again at 51 apiece.  Diggs ignited the burst with four straight points, graduate student forward Josh Odunowo converted two free throws, and Tanchyn buried a trey to account for the scoring during the stretch.

The Catamounts then scored six straight points to regain the lead for good at 57-51 with 4:58 left.  Armstrong Jr. hit a long trifecta to bring UMBC within three, 57-54, with 3:08 left, and then Tanchyn converted one of two from the charity stripe to cut the deficit to just 57-55 with 1:39 left.

UMBC was unable to get over the hump, as they missed their final three field goal attempts and the hosts hit four free throws and received a dagger 3-pointer from Lucas Mari to put the game away.

Guard TJ Hurley scored a game-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including 4-of-8 3-pointers.  Mari added 16 points off the bench and added six boards.

UMBC travels to UAlbany on Saturday evening.