PHILADELPHIA, PA -  The La Salle University Explorers (4-2) trailed Maryland - Baltimore County (4-5) by a score 62-37 with 4:24 to play when they mounted a frenzied finish to come up eleven points short in a 68-67 defeat on Thursday night at Gola Arena.

The Explorers surrendered the lead when Chris Pugh hit a jumper at the 15:50 mark of the first half to tie the game at 4-4.  Just under two minutes later Plymouth-Whitemarsh product Thomas Young gave his team a 6-4 lead and the Retrievers would never trail again en route to their fourth win of the season.

Yves Mekongo Mbala (Elizabeth, NJ/St. Patrick's) tied the game with a lay-up at 21-21 with 4.50 to play in the first but the Retrievers went into the break with a 32-27 lead after holding Explorer leading scorer Darnell Harris (Baltimore, MD/St. Frances) to just three points in the first half.

In the second half the Explorers got to within four points at 33-29 with a Harris jumper but the Retrievers held La Salle to just 10 points for the first 15.18 of the second half to build as much as a 25-point lead.

At this point Harris nailed a three pointer and the Explorers would score 30 points over the next 4.09 after not scoring a field goal for over nine minutes to get the difference down to as little as nine points (73-64) with 50 seconds remaining.

In that stretch junior Sherman Diaz (Diego Martin, Trinidad & Tobago/Life Center) would score six points on a lay-up and three three-pointers.  Freshman Kimmani Barrett (Paterson, NJ/Paterson Catholic) would also hit a three.

The effort was futile, however, as the Retrievers shot 10-11 from the free throw line in the closing two minutes to preserve the lead.

The Explorers placed four players in double-digits for the first time this season.

UMBC was led by Brian Hodges' 22 points and sophomore point guard Jay Greene who scored 16 points, dished eight assists and was 4-4 from the stripe.

With finals week ahead the Explorers will not return to action until Saturday, December 16 when they travel to New Britain, CT to battle Central Connecticut State at 2:00 PM.