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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Behind a career scoring day from University of Hartford junior Corban Wroe, the men's basketball team closed out the 2013-14 regular season with a 67-56 win over UMBC on Senior Day at the Chase Family Arena. Locking up the third seed for the second-straight season with the win and UAlbany's loss at Stony Brook, the Hawks, who finish at 16-15 overall (10-6 AE), will meet No. 6 Binghamton in the upcoming America East Championships.

Wroe netted 21 points to tie UMBC's Rodney Elliott for a game-best, starting out the afternoon by making his first four three-point attempts and seven of his first eight from the floor. The guard went on to finish 7-of-9 on the afternoon. Joining the junior in double figures were classmates Yolonzo Moore II and Mark Nwakamma, who scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.

For the second-straight year, the Hawks finish with a winning record, marking just the third time in the program's 30-year Division I history that it posts records above .500 in back-to-back seasons. Furthermore, the 32 wins from the last two seasons combined are the most in consecutive years in the Hawks' DI era. Hartford also finishes with 10 league wins for the second time in as many years.

Charles Taylor, Jr. added 11 points for the Retrievers, who finish the regular season at 9-20 overall with a 5-11 mark in America East action. UMBC earned the fifth seed in the tournament and will take on UAlbany in the America East Championship's opening night.

The Hawks knocked down six threes in the first half to build a double digit lead before the end of the period. Wroe, who led all scorers with 11 at the break, scored Hartford's final nine points of the half – all from behind the arc – to provide his team with a 29-19 advantage heading into the locker room. The pedal stayed to the metal in the second, as the Hawks continued to build on their advantage, going up by as many as 24 in the final period.

After a cold start by both teams, Hartford jumped out to a 7-2 lead as Nwakamma scored the Hawks' first five points of the afternoon. But UMBC answered back, scoring five-straight to knot up the game at 7-7 with 13:32 left in the first.

That's when the Hawks got hot from downtown, converting on six of their next nine three-point attempts over the final 11:41, including four of its last five attempts. Junior Wes Cole started the streak by knocking a pair of triples on back-to-back possessions 22 seconds apart to break open the 7-7 deadlock and put the Hawks ahead, 13-7, with just over 11 minutes left. That lead got trimmed down to a single point thanks to a UMBC 5-0 spurt, however, the visiting team would come no closer for the remainder of the contest.

Nwakamma picked up his first and second fouls early, and was forced to the sidelines for the final 12 minutes, but the Hawks' offense continued to flow. All but one of Hartford's five final field goals of the half came from long range, with Moore chipping in a layup and a pair of free throws in what proved to be a 16-7 half-ending scoring surge by the home team. 

Hartford kept the momentum going in the second, scoring 15 of the first 22 points of the half to quickly go up by 20 (44-24) with 12:05 remaining. That lead ballooned to 24 points with just under nine minutes to go as the Hawks continued to control the tempo. Another Wroe three capped a 9-2 run that pushed the score to 55-31, their largest margin of the game, at the 8:22 mark.

Down the final stretch, though, UMBC staged a comeback. Over the final 5:27, Hartford was held without a field goal, allowing UMBC to close the gap to 64-55 with 63 seconds left on the clock. The Retrievers ended the game with an 18-6 run, but they wouldn't come any closer as the Hawks scored their sixth win in seven games.

Hartford forced UMBC into 18 turnovers, scoring 22 points off those miscues.

Prior to the start of the contest, Hartford honored its three seniors – Oren Faulk, Jeremiah Aska and Adam Oresky – in a Senior Day ceremony.

As the three seed, Hartford will square off in the final game of the quarterfinal round at SEFCU Arena at 8 p.m. The opponent is still to be determined. The Hawks swept the season series from the Bearcats, winning in Vestal (56-54) in January and scoring an overtime victory last week at the Chase Family Arena.