Just days after the Binghamton University men’s basketball team officially became the worst Division I team in the nation, the Bearcats headed to Stony Brook University still in search of their first win and desperately looking to salvage the last few games of their schedule. But for the 22nd consecutive time this season, the Bearcats came away empty-handed, falling to the first-place Seawolves 82-48 after managing their lowest scoring total in conference play all season.
Nearly a month earlier, in the teams’ first meeting of the season, the Bearcats (0-22, 0-10 America East) dropped a close six-point game to Stony Brook (14-7, 9-1 AE) after carrying a one-point lead into halftime. On Wednesday night, the potential for another close matchup lingered only into the game’s opening minutes as the two teams found themselves tied at six with just under 15 minutes left to play in the first.
But the tables would turn in a matter of seconds.
With 14:26 left in the half, Stony Brook junior guard Leonard Hayes hit the first 3-pointer of the game, snapping the tie and igniting the Seawolves’ offense. Over the next two and a half minutes, the Seawolves embarked on a 15-2 run that was highlighted by four more Stony Brook threes, forcing a timeout from BU head coach Mark Macon.
The Stony Brook run quickly crushed any momentum the Bearcats had managed to collect early in the game. BU would go on to score less in the next 12 minutes than they had in the game’s opening three.
“You just have to begin to cover guys out there,” Macon said of the Seawolves’ 3-pointers. “We were there with hands in the face for at least three of them. They just hit shots. They started hitting shots and the rim got bigger and bigger.”
Stony Brook knocked down 9-of-12 from the behind the arc in the first half alone, and eventually broke a school record with 14 total 3-pointers on the night.
Macon said he believes Stony Brook’s home court advantage played a definite role in the Bearcats’ poor overall performance, offering one possible reason for an outcome so different from when the teams met earlier in the season at the Events Center.
“They’re the No. 1 team in the league and they had a big crowd,” Macon said. “All of their student fans were there … and they were loud and they were screaming and they were doing everything to throw us off balance, so they had great support last night. We all play well at home.”
The night marked a slew of conference-play worsts for the Bearcats, including in points scored, points allowed and turnovers.
Entering Wednesday night’s game ranked first in the America East and 21st in the NCAA in scoring defense (59.3), Stony Brook held BU to just 15 points through the opening frame and 48 total on the night.
17 of the Seawolves’ 82 points came at the hands of Binghamton turnovers, as the Bearcats tallied another season-worst 13 total turnovers on the night.
“We just have to continue to work hard and scrape and scratch for every point, every defensive play, every rebound,” Macon said. “We just have to continue to work hard. I want to win for this team and those kids as badly as anybody, but we just have to continue to work on it.”
Leading the Bearcats was sophomore guard Rob Mansell, who tallied a team-high total of 10 points and added three rebounds, which tied for second-best on the team. Freshman forward Ben Dickinson chipped in with nine points, and junior guard Jimmy Gray added eight points, three assists and a pair of rebounds. Gray’s two 3-pointers led the team.
Following a stretch of three straight road games, Binghamton is set to return home to the Events Center tomorrow night to face off against 11-13 (7-3 AE) Boston University at 7 p.m.