Once again, the Binghamton University men’s basketball team found itself facing a double-figure deficit early in the second half. Once again, the Bearcats fought their way back. And once again, they came up just short.
Binghamton (10-13, 6-5 America East) lost a third consecutive game, 63-59, at host Maryland-Baltimore County Saturday afternoon.
“I told these guys you never quit and fight until the end,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin Broadus. “We just have to learn, when you come back that far, how to keep gritting it out and be tough.”
The Bearcats, who trailed by 15 at halftime and as much as by 20 early in the second half, closed the gap to 59-50 with 6:23 left in the game. BU then went on a 9-0 run to tie the game on a 3-pointer in the left corner by Chretien Lukusa with two minutes left.
UMBC (17-7, 9-2 AE) responded on the following possession when Cavell Johnson hit a bank shot in the lane on an offensive rebound from a missed Ray Barbosa 3-pointer with 1:24 remaining. After a BU timeout, Richie Forbes drove the lane but his layup attempt was blocked by Johnson. The Bearcats would get one last opportunity when Darryl Proctor missed the front end of a one-and-one. Dwayne Jackson drove the lane but was forced to throw up a wild shot as he was met by Proctor in the lane trying to draw a charge. There was contact, but no foul called as UMBC got the ball back and Jay Greene hit both free throws on the other end to secure the win for the Retrievers.
“DJ broke it [the play] off at the end, but had built up his chips to do it,” Broadus said. “He said he saw something else and it didn’t fall our way.”
The Bearcats’ first-half shooting didn’t fall their way either as they shot 29 percent, finishing the game at 41 percent thanks to 49 percent in the second-half. Their second-half surge was led by junior Reggie Fuller, who finished with a game- and season-high 19 points, 16 in the second-half and 12 rebounds. And Jackson added 13 points, 10 of those also coming in the second-half while Richard Forbes added nine points and four assists.
But while Binghamton got production once again from its role players, its two leading scorers, Mike Gordon and Lazar Trifunovic, struggled. The pair combined for just six points — 21 points under their combined average. While Gordon grabbed four rebounds and had seven steals, Trifunovic played just 13 minutes, eight in the first half.
“Laz is hurt,” Broadus said. “His back and knees — that’s why he didn’t play much. He is worn down and has raked up a lot of minutes. He is our horse and we’ll keep going with him.”
But Trifunovic isn’t the only one struggling injuries.
“Gio is hurting and Jaan’s foot is bothering him,” Broadus said. “Milos didn’t suit up and join us on this trip. We are depleted in the big man spot. We will play with the guys we have.”
Only six players logged more than 20 minutes on Saturday and that lack of a bench limits some of things the Bearcats can do.
“We only have so many guys, we are beat up,” Broadus said. “I would love to press 94 feet for 40 minutes but our personnel doesn’t allow it.”
UMBC also only played about six guys, with five of them scoring in double figures, led by Johnson’s 13 points. Retriever leading scorer, Brian Hodges, was in street clothes dealing with an ankle injury.
While UMBC is the conference leader in scoring offense, now averaging 75 points per game and Broadus knows that it’s going to have to be defense that leads the Bearcats out of their slump.
“We have to be better defensively and we need to shut down guys,” Broadus said. “Our defense is our culprit. Our defense brings our offense up. When we play good defense, guys can’t stop us.”