BALTIMORE — Maryland Baltimore County went on a 31-6 run to open the second half and pulled away for an 86-74 America East men’s basketball victory over the University of Maine on Saturday.
UMaine falls to 5-18 overall and 2-6 in conference play while UMBC is 15-8 overall, 6-2 in America East.
Jairus Lyles, the conference’s leading scorer at 20.3 points per game entering the contest, led the Retrievers with 34 points, including 24 in the second half to spark the game’s decisive surge.
Joe Sherburne added 11 points and 10 rebounds for UMBC while K.J. Maura had 10 points and nine assists.
UMaine guard Isaiah White returned to his home state and scored a career-high 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field. White made 3 of 4 3-point tries while also contributing seven rebounds and three assists.
Aaron Calixte added 14 points while Andrew Fleming posted 12 points and seven rebounds and Vernon Lowndes Jr. came off the bench with nine points and five rebounds. UMaine made 51.8 percent (29 of 56) of its field-goal attempts for its second best shooting performance of the season.
The Black Bears were hurt by 24 turnovers that led directly to 31 UMBC points.
UMaine built a seven-point lead at 23-16 on Ilker Er’s 3-pointer with 7:25 left in the first half before UMBC went on a 18-4 blitz to grab its own seven-point lead at 34-27.
UMaine closed out the half with a 9-1 run that featured four points by White to grab a 36-35 intermission lead.
White and Calixte combined for 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field during the game’s first 20 minutes.