After a 78-71 defeat against Bryant on Saturday that snapped the Bearcats’ three-game America East win streak, the Binghamton men’s basketball team continued its skid on the road Thursday night in an 81-77 loss to UMBC. BU would struggle with turnovers for much of the contest, allowing the Retrievers to build a double-digit advantage, and a late run and comeback attempt by BU ultimately fell short.

“We should have played the game a much better way,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “We should have more discipline. We should execute. It was a big game for us. The opportunity for us to really stay up on the fourth spot, and these guys know that. So it’s disappointing.”

Binghamton (12-14, 4-7 AE) quickly found success on offense by penetrating UMBC’s (12-14, 4-7 AE) two-three zone with driving scores from sophomore forward Gavin Walsh and senior forward Nehemiah Benson to go up 4-to-0. After the Retrievers responded with two points of their own, graduate student guard Tymu Chenery nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key to begin an 11-point Bearcat run that cemented a 15-2 lead. However, the Retrievers responded with a nine-point run to get within two at 17-15 after switching into man defense and disrupting BU’s inside game with three consecutive blocks.

Both teams traded punches from here, but UMBC’s tight defense, which forced eight turnovers on the half, was the difference-maker, leading to a 31-27 halftime lead for the hosts.

“When you talk about those blocks, I think that was just nonsense from us,” Sanders said. “We were driving to the rim when guys were standing there. We had guys that were wide open … We try to make it too difficult. So a lot of those blocks are attributed to just bad decisions of us trying to go to the rim when we should have passed the ball.”

After UMBC quickly got up six, Walsh cleaned the glass with a layup before UMBC got an easy answer to get back up 37-31. A five-point scoring burst from the free-throw line and the paint by Benson put BU back within four, but UMBC soon secured their biggest lead of the contest, 45-36. After Walsh connected with graduate student forward Ben Callahan-Gold to get back within nine at 50-to-41, the Retrievers would extend their lead to 55-41 with another run.

Binghamton kept pushing with another three from redshirt junior guard Chris Walker to make it 56-46, but the Retrievers continued to set the tone. Yet, down 73-56 with four minutes to go, a jumper from Callahan-Gold reignited BU’s offense into a 14-point run to get within two possessions. After some timely stops, the graduate Bearcat made it 75-72 with just 30 seconds left. This late surge was not enough, however, as UMBC managed the free-throw battle to escape with an 81-77 victory.

“Too little, too late,” Sanders said. “We tried to extend the game. We tried to foul. Just at that point you don’t have enough time. When you foul you can’t get the right guys to get the ball … We tried to extend the game, but it shouldn’t have to come down to that.”

Walker led BU in scoring with 17 points as he shot 66.7 percent from the perimeter, while Walsh nailed down another double-double with 13 points and 14 boards. As a squad, BU struggled with 16 turnovers off of eight steals by UMBC.

“The way we played from the middle of the first half to the end of the game, I just think we gotta be way more unselfish than we are,” Sanders said. “Too many guys are worried about scoring instead of Binghamton getting the best shot. Probably gonna have to change the line up a little bit, make some adjustments to the lineup to get some some better continuity. But we gotta get better.”

BU will look to regain momentum and close out the road trip strong against NJIT on Saturday, Feb. 15. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.