On Wednesday night, the Binghamton men’s basketball team was unable to obtain the lead against Saint Joseph’s University at any point during the away matchup and took its fourth defeat of the season 79-57.

BU (2-4) went down 12-4 within the first five minutes of play. Although they started slow, the Bearcats began to chip away at the Hawks’ (4-3) early lead with an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to bring the deficit within one point. Just after the 10-minute mark, however, Saint Joseph’s stretched its lead to 24-13 with a 12-2 run of its own.

“I don’t think we opened up well,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds which I thought was the difference in the first half, their eight offensive rebounds and 11 second-chance points.”

With four minutes to play in the first half, junior forward Bryce Beamer hit back-to-back 3-pointers, bringing the Bearcats within reach of the lead. Slowly, BU chipped away at the lead when at the 1:45 mark of the first half, junior guard Jacob Falko got a steal and pushed the ball forward. Falko drove past the Hawks’ defender and rose up for a two-handed slam dunk to get the deficit down to four points. However, St. Joseph’s went on a 5-0 run to end the half at 44-35.

“[Beamer] had just hit two 3-pointers back-to-back and he had an open look coming out of the timeout,” Sanders said. “If we make that 3-pointer to cut it to one, now it’s a different ballgame.”

The Bearcats shot 45.5 percent from the field in the first half and shot 18.2 percent from 3-point range. No BU athlete other than Beamer hit a first-half 3-pointer. They were also out-rebounded 25 to 13 in the first. St. Joseph’s finished with twice as many points in the paint as Binghamton by a tally of 44-22.

“When you’re smaller than your opponent, you gotta focus and put all your effort into boxing out,” Sanders said. “We can’t get out-rebounded like that and expect to have the ability to win the game.”

In the first 10 minutes of the second half, Saint Joseph’s extended its lead. BU had trouble scoring and gave up a 26-8 run, allowing the Hawks to gain a 70-43 lead, the largest margin of the game.

“I just think that [Saint Joseph’s] executed a lot better than we did in the second half,” Sanders said. “We couldn’t clean up our defensive rebounds … We gotta execute much better on both sides of the ball.”

Sophomore guard John McGriff led the Bearcats with 14 points on 54.5 percent shooting. The sophomore was the only player in double-digit scoring figures, although he led the team with five turnovers.

“[McGriff] is getting better as a point guard,” Sanders said. “He’s learning how to run the team, but it’s a team thing, you got to help him, you’ve got to be able to cut hard, you got to get open.”

BU’s shooting percentages dipped further in the second half as it shot 32 percent from the field and went one for five from 3-point range. Binghamton also turned the ball over nine times in the second compared to only five in the first.

“I don’t think anyone played well,” Sanders said. “I think we didn’t play well as a team and we all have to be better.”

The Bearcats return to the court against Boston University on Saturday, Dec. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Case Gymnasium in Boston, Massachusetts.