ALBANY, N.Y. – The University of Hartford men's basketball team fell victim to a hot second-half shooting effort by the UMBC Retrievers as the No. 6 Retrievers came from behind to score a 69-62 win over the third-seeded Hawks on Saturday afternoon in quarterfinal action of the America East Championship.

The Hawks (17-13) finished just one win shy of matching the program record, and were knocked out in the quarterfinals for the first time in two years. UMBC (8-22) advances to the semifinals and will square off against No. 2 Vermont on Sunday evening.

Sophomore Nate Sikma led Hartford with 17 points and classmate Mark Nwakamma contributed 13. For the Retrievers, senior Ryan Cook scored 19 second-half points to fuel his team's comeback bid while fellow classmate Neller bombarded the Hawks' defense with three pointers, including three in the final stanza. The duo combined to score 44 points for a red-hot squad that missed just four field goals in the second half.

Leading 24-22 at the intermission, Hartford raced out of the gates to start the second and took a 32-24 advantage after scoring eight of the first 10 points of the second. The roles quickly reversed, though, as UMBC, which made nine of its first 10 field goals after the break, put together a 14-3 rally sparked by 12 consecutive points from Cook, to go ahead by three with 13:26 remaining.

That Retriever run grew to 22-7 and with 11:12 left to play, UMBC held a 46-39 lead. The Hawks clawed back and cut their deficit to a single point on two occasions. Down 51-48 with 7:21 on the clock, sophomore Corban Wroe closed the gap to one with a pair of free throws, but UMBC capitalized at the free throw line, making 6-of-8 to keep its distance.

With 3:52 remaining, Neller buried a three-pointer from the corner to make it 60-51 before Hartford wheeled off one final run. Freshman Evan Cooper kicked off the 8-1 run with a trey, and sophomore Wes Cole added one of his own from the baseline to trim the Hawks' deficit to two at 61-59 with less than 90 seconds to go.

Neller had the answer for UMBC, draining his sixth shot from behind the arc just 20 seconds later, to make it a five point Retrievers' advantage.  In their final two possessions, Hartford came up empty handed, and UMBC sealed the victory on the other end to clinch the win and the semifinal bid.

UMBC was 78.9 percent (15-of-19) from the floor in that second half and went on to finish at a clip of 54.5 percent (24-of-44). The Hawks struggled from three-point land, making just 7-of-28 (25 percent). They shot just under 40 percent (39.2%) on the afternoon.