BALTIMORE- UMBC freshman midfielder Pat Young scored his fourth goal with 1:18 remaining and the host Retrievers outlasted Binghamton, 10-9, to clinch a berth in the America East Tournament for the tenth consecutive year.

UMBC (6-7, 3-2 America East) has participated in the four-team championship in all ten of its league campaigns. The Bearcats were eliminated from tournament play and finish the season at 5-9, 1-4.

The 2013 America East Championship will open at LaValle Stadium in Stony Brook, N.Y., with the semifinal contests taking place on Thursday, May 2 and the title game occurring on May 4.

Young, who led the Retrievers with four scores, scored his third game-winning goal of the season. He also recorded the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in a 13-12 win at Stony Brook on April 13.

“It was a typical America East game-for our conference to have five teams still in the hunt on the last week of the regular season is pretty special,“ said head coach Don Zimmerman. “It’s Senior Day, it’s emotional. It’s always a little bit of a struggle on Senior Day, but I am very proud of the team, the way they hung in there, came back from several deficits and came back in the end.”

The game was tied on eight occasions, as the Retrievers trailed by one goal six times and 8-6 late in the third quarter. The Bearcats took the lone two-goal advantage of the game on a goal by attackman Matt Springer with 18 seconds to play in the third stanza. But UMBC snatched momentum back as senior attackman/midfielder Joe Lustgarten (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) netted a desperation shot with less than one second remaining in the stanza.

Young knotted the game at 8-all 2:42 into the final quarter, beating BU netminder Max Schefler low from 11 yards away. UMBC would then take its first lead of the game, as senior middie Dave Brown (Coopersburg, Pa./The Hill School) found Matt Gregoire (Crofton, Md./South River) inside and the senior attackman converted from close range with 8:55 remaining.

Binghamton’s Emmett O’Hara brought his side back to even, tallying with 3:29 remaining and the Bearcats won the ensuing draw. But BU hit the side-netting on a shot with 1:52 to play and the Retrievers cleared and called a time-out. Junior midfielder Conor Finch (Westminster, Md./Boys’ Latin) drove down the right alley and dumped a pass back to Young, who stepped into a 10-yard shot and it ticked the stick of Schefler before hitting the back of the net.

UMBC won the next face-off and never allowed the Bearcats to possess the ball in the final minute of play.

The Retrievers, now 39-13 in ten years of America East Conference play, have never lost back-to-back conference contests. UMBC improved to 22-4 at UMBC Stadium vs. AEC foes during the regular year and to 8-0 vs. Binghamton on the friendly turf in Baltimore.

Young and Springer each scored four times for their respective teams. Lustgarten added two goals and an assist for UMBC, while Gregoire recorded a pair of goals and now has 15 in league play in 2013.

Both goalkeepers excelled in the contest. UMBC sophomore Wes DiRito (Odenton, Md./DeMatha) turned away 12 Binghamton shots, while Schefler also recorded 12 saves. The Retrievers outshot the Bearcats, 35-27.

The UMBC men’s lacrosse team is one of five America East Conference squads battling for a playoff berth as the regular season comes to a conclusion on Saturday, April 27. Tenth-ranked Albany (10-3, 4-0) has sewn up the top seed, but everything else is up for grabs as the Retrievers (5-7, 2-2) host Binghamton (5-8, 1-3) at 3:40 p.m. UMBC’s 14 seniors will be honored in pregame ceremonies and coverage is available on Q1370 and via www.umbcretrievers.tv. 

With a win, the Retrievers would clinch a spot in the four-team playoff for the tenth time in ten league seasons. UMBC could be seeded No. 2, 3 or 4. The combination of a Retriever loss and Stony Brook victory vs. Albany would eliminate UMBC from the postseason. Hartford plays at Vermont in the other league contest.

The Retrievers will honor their 14 seniors in ceremonies prior to today’s contest. They are Dave Brown, Adam Cohen, Nick Doub, Matt Gregoire, Scott Hopmann, Joe Impallaria, Scott Jones, Neill Lewnes, Joe Lustgarten, Sam McKelvey, Ethan Murphy, Tony Spada, Lucas Wood, and Jake Zimmerman.

Gregoire scored a career-best five points, but the Retrievers fell, 16-10, to tenth-ranked Albany at John Fallon Field on April 19. Gregoire tallied four goals and added an assist, recording the third four-goal game of his career and giving him 10 goals in three games vs. Albany. He also leads UMBC and is tied for fourth in the conference with 15 points in four league contests.

Jones leads the club in scoring with 27 goals and 32 total points. Jones became the 30th Retriever to hit the 100-point plateau and now has 108 points (88-20-108) total points for his career. 

UMBC is 4-1 at home this year and 21-4 at home in 10 years of America East Conference competition.

Binghamton (5-8, 1-3 AE) came up just short on April 20, dropping an 8-7 America East conference game to visiting Vermont (4-9, 1-3 AE) at the Bearcats Sports Complex. The Catamounts used a 4-2 first quarter and never trailed as they secured their first conference win of the season. Bearcat junior Brandon Planck netted three goals for the Bearcats who fell to 1-3 in conference play.  Planck netted his fifth career hat trick in the loss. JR M Michael Antinozzi scored two goals and added an assist, increasing his career point tally to 89.  JR A Matt Springer he tied the single season goals record of 32 set just last season by teammate Michael Antinozzi.

Binghamton has had six games decided by two goals or less and are 3-3 in those six contests. They are 2-4 on the road this season.  The Bearcats can earn a spot in the playoffs with a win today and a Hartford win over Vermont.

UMBC concludes its tenth season of America East Conference play on Sunday, March 3 when they host Binghamton at the RAC Arena. UMBC would wrap up the No. 6 seed in next weekend’s America East Conference Tournament with a victory over the Bearcats. UMBC Basketball will also celebrate its “Senior Day”, as the Retrievers honor Ryan Cook, Brian Neller and Adrian Satchell before the contest which tips off at 2:10 p.m. Gary Stein and Paul Mittermeier have all the play-by-play action and streaming is available at www.umbcretrievers.tv.

RETRIEVER UPDATE: UMBC (4-11, 6-22) has dropped six straight, including Thursday’s 68-56 setback at Hartford. For the second time in the last three road games, UMBC had a halftime lead, but could not protect it in the second half. The Retrievers held UH to 20 first half points, but the Hawks hit over 60 percent from the field and scored 48 in the final 20 minutes. Cook (14.6 ppg) went over the 400-point barrier for the season with a team-high 16 points for UMBC.

BEARCAT UPDATE: Binghamton (1-14, 3-25) has dropped nine straight, but gave Vermont a scare on Thursday, leading early in the second half before the Catamounts pulled away for a 78-61 victory. FR G Jordan Reed is one of the nation’s top newcomers- he leads America East in scoring (16.9 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg). SR G Jimmy Gray has buried 62 treys on the campaign for the Bearcats.

WHO’S UP NEXT: A UMBC win would pit the Retrievers vs. either host Albany or Hartford in the America East Tournament on Sat., March 9. A loss and a UNH win over Maine would mean the Retrievers would face No. 2 Vermont.

UMBC completes the first half of America East play when they travel to Vestal, N.Y. to take on the Binghamton Bearcats. Tip-off time at the BU Events Center is set for 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3, with Ed Cohen and Frank Sullivan describing the action.

RETRIEVER UPDATE: Despite a torrid shooting display by visiting UMBC, the Boston University Terriers outscored the Retrievers, 81-75 at Case Gymnasium on Saturday. The Retrievers hit season highs in both field goal percentage (31-of-59, 52.5%) and 3-point field goals (12), but the Terriers converted on 19-of-31 shots from the floor in the second half to outlast UMBC (2-5, 4-16).  JR F Chase Plummer recorded a double-double, scoring 19 points and adding 11 caroms for UMBC.

BEARCAT UPDATE:  Binghamton snapped a 12-game losing streak and picked up a road win with a 57-56 victory at Maine on Jan. 19. The Bearcats could not make it back-to-back victories as they fell, 63-45 vs. UNH on Jan. 26. FR G Jordan Reed has earned America East Rookie of the Week honors on three occasions in 2012-12. He leads BU and is third in America East at 15.8 points per game.  SR G Jimmy Gray avearges 10.9 ppg and hits 2.3 treys per game.

WHO’S UP NEXT:  The Retrievers open a three-game homestand by welcoming Maine to the RAC Arena on Sat., Feb. 2. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Game Data

Loyola University Maryland opens the 2012-2013 regular-season on Friday, November 9, when it hosts Binghamton University at 7:30 p.m. in Reitz Arena.

The game is the first of 31 during the regular-season for the Greyhounds in the 103rd season of men’s basketball at Loyola.

Tune In

The game, along with all of the Greyhounds’ non-televised home games, will be broadcast live and free of charge on ‘Hounds Unleashed, the broadband arm of LoyolaGreyhounds.com. Video is available on computers and most mobile devices platforms.

Series History

Loyola and Binghamton will meet for the first time when they take the court Friday.

The Greyhounds went 3-0 last season against teams in the America East Conference, defeating UMBC and Boston University at home and New Hampshire on the road.

Loyola is 33-26 all-time against teams currently in the league with the vast majority (44) of those games coming against crosstown foe UMBC.

What’s Back

Loyola returns eight of 12 players who saw game action, including four players – forward Erik Etherly and guards Dylon Cormier, Robert Olson and R.J. Williams – who started in the NCAA Tournament game last season.

In all, the eight returning players accounted for 73-percent of Loyola’s minutes last year, 70-percent of rebounds, 80-perecnt of assists, 79-percent of steals, 65-percent of blocked shots and 71-percent of points.

So Long

Four players departed from last year’s roster, including J’hared Hall and Shane Walker who graduated from Loyola in May and two players who elected to transfer – Justin Drummond (Toldeo) and Pierson Williams (Cal State-Dominguez Hills).

Walker started all 33 games in the post for Loyola last year and averaged 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while dishing out 50 assists and blocking 42 shots. Drummond was an All-MAAC Third Team honoree and MAAC Sixth Player of the Year while scoring 10.7 points per game a year ago.

Preseason MAAC Honors

Three Loyola players were named to the various Preseason All-MAAC teams as voted on by the coaches of the league.

Erik Etherly earned an All-MAAC First Team nod, while Dylon Cormier and Robert Olson were named to the Second Team.

The MAAC will announce its preseason poll of order of finish in the league on its Preseason Awards Show that will be aired on ESPN3 this Friday at 8:15 p.m.

Classy Senior

Senior guard Robert Olson was named one of 30 candidates for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award last week. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

Olson was the Greyhounds’ third-leading scorer last season with 11.1 points per game and enters this season Loyola ranked fourth at Loyola in 3-point percentage (138-of-336, .4107) sixth in career 3-pointers made (138) and eighth in 3-pointers attempted (336).

Last season, Olson was one of four Loyola players to earn All-MAAC honors, picking up Third Team mention and later All-Tournament honors.

High Marks

The Loyola men’s basketball team scored the highest amongst squads in the State of Maryland in the most recent NCAA Graduation Success Rate report. The Greyhounds checked in with a 91-percent GSR, tops among the state’s nine Division I schools, for players who entered the school between 2002-2005.

Saint Peter’s Game At The Meadowlands

The Loyola-Saint Peter’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game slated for Saturday, December 8, has been moved from the Peacocks’ Jersey City campus to the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, N.J., at the Meadowlands complex.

The Greyhounds and Peacocks will tip-off at 12 noon prior to the second game of the doubleheader between Duke and Temple.

Second NCAA Trip

Last year, Loyola made its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 18 seasons, a span of 17 years, 11 months and 23 days. In all, it was 6,569 days between NCAA Tournament Games for the Greyhounds.

Last year’s true freshmen – Tyler Hubbard and R.J. Williams – were less than one year old the last time Loyola played in an NCAA match.

MAAC Title

Loyola won its second MAAC Championship in 23 years in the conference on Monday, March 5, 2012, defeating Fairfield University, 48-44, in the lowest scoring championship game in league history.

The Greyhounds held Fairfield to just six second-half field goals and 28.8-percent shooting in the game.

Loyola, which finished second in the conference during the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed in the league tournament, defeated Niagara University and Siena College in the MAAC Quarterfinals and Semifinals, respectively.

Defense Wins Championships

The Greyhounds played outstanding defense in the MAAC title game, holding Fairfield to 44 points and 28.8-percent shooting for the game. The 44 points were the fewest Loyola had allowed in a game this season. It was the fewest points a Loyola opponent had scored since the Greyhounds held Dartmouth to 41 in a 58-41 decision on November 24, 2009.

Loyola allowed the Stags to shoot just 6-for-31 (.194) in the second half, scoring only 22 points, the fewest points against the Greyhounds in any half this season.

After trailing by four points (30-26) at halftime, Loyola held Fairfield without a point for the first 7:48 of the second half, and without a field goal for the first 8:48. In that period, the Greyhounds outscored the Stags 11-1 to take a 37-31 lead.

Turnaround…Check

Loyola completed the turnaround from finishing the 2003-2004 season with the lowest RPI in NCAA Division I basketball. The Greyhounds finished that season with a 1-27 record the season before Jimmy Patsos took over as head coach.

Since then, Loyola has gone 122-123 and culminated the turnaround by winning a school Division I record 24 games  in 2011-2012.

Patsos is one of only three coaches at the Division I level in the last 20 years to take over a program that had won zero or one game the year prior to then win 100 games at the school. He joins Steve Cleveland (BYU) and Pat Douglass (UC-Irvine) as the others.

Outstanding Performance By Etherly

Erik Etherly was named the MAAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player after averaging a team-best 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds over the three games.

Etherly was in double figures in each of the three games, including back-to-back 20-point games for the first time in his career in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.

He followed that with 10 points, seven rebounds and a career-high five blocks in the MAAC title game vs. Fairfield.

He shot 20-for-38 (.526) from the floor and 11-for-14 (.786) from the foul line, while finishing with nine blocks.

Last season, Etherly was named to the All-MAAC First Team after averaging 13.7 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, both tops for the Greyhounds.

He also became the second player in school history to earn National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District honors, when he joined Mike Powell (1997) and earned Second Team laurels.

Cormier Continues Upswing

Dylon Cormier led the Greyhounds in scoring 13 times during the 2011-2012 season and scored 20 or more points on seven occasions as a sophomore, earning All-MAAC Second Team honors.

The Baltimore native made a huge jump in production from his freshman year when he averaged 8.1 points per game and started 28 games for Loyola. He showed a marked improvement in shooting as a sophomore, hitting 46.1-percent of his shots form the field after making just 37.9-percent as a freshman.

20-Win Season

The Greyhounds’ victory over Boston University on February 19, 2012, was their 20th of the season, setting a school Division I record.

Loyola, which moved to NCAA Division I in 1981-1982, had won 19 games in 2007-2008 and 18 in 2006-2007.

The overall school record for victories, 25, came in 1948-1949.

Patsos Named Coach & Man Of The Year

Jimmy Patsos became the first Loyola coach to earn The Rock/Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors by a vote of his peers in the league.

Patsos guided the Greyhounds to a school Division I high 24 wins and a program MAAC record 13 victories. He earned his 100th career coaching victory in November 2012 and led the Greyhounds to the No. 2 seed in the MAAC Championships.

Later in March, Patsos was named the Skip Prosser Man of the Year award for his work on and off the court, an honor presented by CollegeInsider.com.

2012 All-MAAC Honors

For the first time since the league expanded to three All-MAAC teams in 1998, four Greyhounds received all-league honors, topping all teams in the conference. Erik Etherly was named to the All-MAAC First Team, Dylon Cormier to the Second, and Justin Drummond and Robert Olson to the Third.

Loyola led all teams in the MAAC with its four selections, just in front of Iona’s three.

The Greyhounds’ previous high was at the end of the 1997-1998 season when Mike Powell (1st), Jason Rowe (2nd) and Roderick Platt (3rd) earned All-MAAC honors.

Etherly led Loyola in scoring (13.7), rebounding (7.5) and blocked shots (50), while finishing second on the team with 63 assists. He shot .530 from the field, good for third in the conference

Cormier was second on the team in scoring, just back of Etherly, with a 13.4 points per game average while improving his field-goal percentage nearly 10 points from his freshman season to .461 as a sophomore.

Drummond has come off the bench in 29 of the Greyhounds’ 33 games last year and is fourth on the team with 11.1 points per game. The guard as also third in rebounding (3.9), and he has scored in double figures 17 times this year.

Olson was one of the top 3-point shooters in the conference last year. He shot .431 from behind the arc, third-best in the MAAC, and averaged 11.1 points per game. The guard entered the month of January averaging less than nine points per game, but from that point forward, he was the team’s second-leading scorer at nearly 13 a contest.

Big Buckets By Bush

Anthony Winbush scored just 16 points in the Greyhounds’ MAAC Championships run, but five of his field goals have come at critical junctures in the victories.

Winbush hit two 3-pointers midway through the first half of the MAAC title game that were part of a 10-3 Loyola run, giving the Greyhounds a 16-9 lead with 10:12 left in the half. Prior to the two 3-pointers, Winbush was 3-for-15 (.167) from downtown on the season.

In the Semifinal game vs. Siena, he tallied Loyola’s fifth and sixth points of the game, scoring in the paint at 12:13 to stop an 11-0 Siena run that had the Saints ahead 11-4. He then made a jumper at 6:31 that put the Greyhounds ahead 17-16 in the first half.

In the Quarterfinal victory over Niagara, Winbush’s first half basket with 2:32 on the clock broke a 31-31 tie.

More Than 60 Years

The last time the Loyola men’s basketball program won 20 games in a season, 1948-1949, the following things were going on in the world, 63 years ago:

Harry Truman began his first full term as President of the United States.

Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman premiered on Broadway.

NATO was formed.

The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League merged to form the NBA.

The first jet-powered airliner, the de Havilland Comet, took flight.

Billy Joel, Joe Theismann, Bruce Springsteen & Meryl Streep were born.

Milestones And Firsts

Loyola accomplished several milestones and firsts throughout the 2011-2012 season. Here is a sample of a few:

First 20-win season in Division I history.

Second MAAC title in school history and first since 1994.

Second NCAA Tournament appearance.

Program MAAC record with 13 league wins and best conference finish (2nd).

Tied school Division I record with eight non-conference wins (1993-1994).

Longest winning streak in school Division I history (8, Nov. 14-Dec. 10). Also, second longest winning streak in D-I history (7, Jan. 19-Feb. 10).

First back-to-back sellouts of Reitz Arena since the venue opened in 1984 (Feb. 3 and 10).

Century Mark

Head Coach Jimmy Patsos became the third coach in Loyola history to win 100 games when the Greyhounds defeated UMBC, 73-63, on the road last season. Patsos, who is now in his ninth season, took over a team that finished 1-27 during the 2002-2003 season. He won his 100th game in his 215th career game.

Last season, Patsos moved into third-place all time at Loyola in victories, trailing only Lefty Reitz (349 wins, 1937-44, 1945-61) and Nap Doherty (165, 1961-74).

Baltimore Bred And More From Nearby

Since taking over as head coach in 2004, Jimmy Patsos has put an emphasis on recruiting locally, and it has never shown as much as on this year’s roster. Four players – junior guard Dylon Cormier (Cardinal Gibbons), junior forward Jordan Latham (City) and sophomore guard R.J. Williams and freshman forward Josh Forney (St. Frances) are products of schools within the city limits.

Six more players played in high school within 50 miles of Loyola, as the crow flies (thanks daftlogic.com): Jarred Jones, John Carroll, 20.5; Tyler Hubbard, Montrose Christian, 32.6 miles; Robert Olson, Georgetown Prep, 33.9; Anthony Winbush, T.C. Williams, 43.7; and Erik Etherly, Annandale, 47.9.