UMBC

, Mass.—Sophomore guard Jay Greene scored a career-high 21 points and put the fifth-seeded Retrievers ahead for good with a minute remaining as UMBC (12-18) defeated fourth-seeded Maine (12-18), 70-61 to advance to their first-ever America East Conference semi-final.

UMBC will play top-seeded Vermont (24-6) at noon on Sunday. The Catamounts advanced with a 81-62 win over Hartford in the first quarter-final game of the day.

The game featured 12 ties and 17 lead changes, as the Black Bears would take a 61-59 lead on Kevin Reed’s jumper with 3:14 remaining. But UMBC would score the final 11 points of the game. Brian Hodges followed his own miss with a put-back to tie the score at 61-all with 2:38 remaining. After Maine failed twice and UMBC once to score, Greene penetrated into the lane and hit a short jumper and drew the foul with the shot clock in single digits and 1:03 to play. Greene converted the free throw to put UMBC ahead, 64-61.

After Reed missed a three-point attempt, sophomore guard Thomas Young was fouled on the rebound and converted both ends of the one-and-one with 41 seconds left. Young repeated the feat just 12 seconds later after rebounding a Phil Bofia miss to give UMBC a 68-61 lead. Maine’s Jon Sheets missed a three-point attempt and Brian Hodges gathered the carom and hit both ends of his one-and-one attempt with 20 seconds left to give the Retrievers the final margin of victory.

Greene, named UMBC’s America East Player of the Game hit seven of nine shots from the floor, four of six from behind the arc and three of four from the line. He scored 16 of his points in the first half and added six assists and three steals. Greene and Chris Pugh combined for 27 of UMBC’s 32 first half points as the Retrievers and Black Bears went to intermission tied at 32-all.

Pugh finished with 14 points, while Young scored all 13 of his points in the second half. Young also garnered six of his seven rebounds in the final 5:13 of the game. Senior Mike Housman added 11 points and tied Young for rebound honors with seven.

UMBC hit 49 percent from the floor (25/51) and eight of 19 shots from behind the arc. Maine, which missed its last seven shots from the floor, finished at 43.3 percent.

The Retrievers were swept in the regular season by Vermont and are 1-8 all-time vs. the Catamounts.  For more information on the America East Tournament, log onto www.americaeast.com.