UMBC

The sixth-seeded UMBC Retrievers (15-16, 7-9 America East) attempt to defend  their 2008 America East tournament title by taking on top-seeded Binghamton University (22-8, 13-3) in the championship game of the 2009 America East Men’s Basketball Tournament. The title games can be heard on Fox 1370 Sports (www.fox1370.com) (Gary Stein, Paul Mittermeier) and seen on ESPN2 (Jeff Graham, Tim Welsh).
 
RETRIEVER UPDATE: UMBC advanced to the finals by virtue of a 79-75 (ot) quarterfinal win over third-seeded Boston University and a 64-58 victory over seventh-seeded and host Albany on Saturday and Sunday, March 7 and 8. UMBC has won its last five  games in America East Tournament play and now has a record of 8-4 in its six conference seasons. UMBC defeated Hartford, 82-65, in last year’s championship game, played in Baltimore, Md. at the RAC Arena.

The Retrievers are just the second No. 6 seed to make it to the finals, following Vermont’s 2005-06 squad, which fell in the title game to Albany.

Senior forward Darryl Proctor scored a career-high 33 points to pace UMBC in the come-from-behind victory over the Terriers. He forced overtime with a 12-foot fade-away jumper in the lane with 2.5 seconds remaining. Senior guard Jay Greene recovered from an 0/8 shooting performance vs. Boston to score 29 points in the win over the Great Danes.

BEARCAT UPDATE: Binghamton will make its first title game appearance. The Bearcats advanced with a 73-65 quarterfinal win over Hartford and a thrilling 72-67 win in the semifinals over UNH. Junior guard D.J. Rivera leads an explosive attack with 20.0 points per game.