The Retrievers from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County hadn’t won a basketball game since they beat the University of Maine 86-74 on Jan. 9. That also represented their only America East victory.
They now have two America East wins and again it came at the expense of the Black Bears.
Sophomore guard Jairus Lyles poured in a game-high 37 points, the Retrievers shot 60 percent from the floor and they outrebounded Maine 43-25 en route to an 83-79 triumph at the Portland Expo on Saturday afternoon.
The win snapped a seven-game losing streak as UMBC improved to 6-19 overall, 2-8 in America East.
Maine fell to 8-15 and 4-6, respectively.
The 6-foot-2 Lyles, who transferred to UMBC from Robert Morris after beginning his college career at Virginia Commonwealth, was 14-for-19 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the foul line and he scored eight of his points down the stretch to keep UMBC in front.
Aaron Calixte’s two free throws cut UMBC’s lead to 70-68 with 3:35 remaining but Will Darley was left alone under the basket and made it 72-68 before Lyles made two nifty moves to score on consecutive possessions and expand the lead to 76-68.
Shaun Lawton’s steal and layup sliced the lead to six but Lyles answered with a finger roll.
A Devine Eke dunk and a Lawton basket cut the lead to four but Lyles hit a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left.
Kevin Little’s two free throws again made it a four-point game.
After a free throw miss by UMBC’s Ben Grace, Little missed a 3-pointer and Lawton missed a jumper and Joe Sherburne all but sewed up the win with a pair of free throws with 9.2 seconds remaining.
Little hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left but Darley made one of two free throws to sew it up.
“Our defense was terrible,” said Maine coach Bob Walsh. “They were able to control the game with their offense. We offered little or no resistance. The reason we were outrebounded is there were no rebounds to get. They scored every time. Our mentality on the defensive end is nowhere where it needs to be.”
Lyles, who entered the game averaging 24.5 points per game after joining the team for the second semester, had five rebounds to go with his 37 points.
Sherburne finished with a game-high 12 rebounds to go with 12 points and Nolan Gerrity and Cody Joyce contributed 10 points apiece. Darley had a game-high seven assists to accompany seven points and three steals.
Calixte’s 18 points and six assists paced Maine, which shot 42.2 percent from the floor. Little had 13 points but was just 4-for-17 from the floor. He had three assists.
Eke also had 13 points along with four steals and four blocked shots. Issac Vann had 12 points before leaving the game late with an apparent ankle injury. Lawton had a team-high 11 rebounds and also had seven points and three assists.
Maine will travel to the University of New Hampshire for a Monday night game.