Al Walker decided to wear a shirt and tie, instead of his normal jacket and collarless shirt.
The head coach hoped the new look would bring his team a little change of luck, but instead the men’s basketball team (0-4) was defeated 69-66 by Central Connecticut State (2-2) late last night at the Events Center.
“I would use the word escaped tonight because that’s what we did,” said CCSU head coach Howie Dickenman. “We escaped tonight with a victory in a game that could have gone either way.”
With 11.3 seconds to go in the game and down by three, sophomore guard Mike Gordon dished the ball off to senior forward Sebastian Hermenier whose three-pointer at the top of the key rimmed out.
“That was executed great,” Walker said. “It was a great shot that we had, but didn’t go in.”
That’s just the way it seemed to go for Binghamton down the stretch. Trailing by two with 2:03 to go, Gordon turned the ball over on an inbounds play and then with the game tied, Tristan Blackwood banked a three-pointer from well beyond the top of the key.
“The kid banked it in … and that’s just the way it goes,” Walker said.
After Hermenier made two free throws to cut the lead to one, the Bearcats got a big defensive stop thanks to a Gordon deflection off an attempted Justin Chiera three-pointer. With 13 seconds to go, junior guard Troy Hailey drove to the basket but had his lay-up blocked by Jemino Sobers.
“I was going to pull up for the jump shot, but I figured going to the hole would be a better play,” Hailey said. “I really tried to draw the foul, but that was a hell of a block — he came out of nowhere.”
Hailey led the Bearcats with a season-high 20 points in 35 minutes, shooting 4-6 from beyond the arc. Hailey got off to a fast start, scoring 10 points in the games first eight minutes.
“He got his offense going, but he has to keep fighting to make stops on the defensive end,” Walker said.
Three other Bearcats scored in double digits to give Binghamton their highest scoring total of the season. Hermenier added a season-high 17 points and six rebounds while senior forward Andre Heard scored 13 and sophomore center Jordan Fithian added 11.
Heard, whose average for the season entering the game was 14.7 ppg, was held scoreless before halftime and didn’t make his first basket until five minutes into the second half.
Blackwood led the Blue Devils with 20 points coming off the bench while Javier Mojica added 18. The Bearcats shut down their leading scorer, Cheira (20 ppg), who was held scoreless in the first half and finished the game with just six points.
With the loss, BU is still winless on the season and is in the midst of its worst start since 1996-97 when they began the year 0-7. The Bearcats will try to regroup on Thursday when they travel to Hofstra for a 7 p.m. contest.
“We can only get better,” Walker said. “That’s the bright way to look at it.”
Freshman power forward Ian Milne didn’t play in last night’s game. He is having surgery to repair a sports hernia and will be out for at least four weeks.