The ending might not have been pretty, but a win is a win, and Al Walker and the Bearcats will take a victory any way they can get one.

After a terrific first half that featured lock-down defense and lights-out jump shooting, the Binghamton men’s basketball team (2-1) brushed off some late mistakes for a 66-59 victory over Mount St. Mary’s (1-3) last night at the Events Center.

Binghamton led the game wire-to-wire, taking leads of 9-0 and 16-4 in the first half, helped by some spectacular looking passes from junior point guard Mike Gordon. However, when the Mountaineers cut the lead to three with 2:31 remaining in the game, fans and players alike threw up their hands in frustration as if to say, “Not again.”

After the game, head coach Al Walker was asked: Can this team learn to slam the proverbial door?

“Teams that are slamming the door [right now] are really good,” Walker responded, sternly. “We know that we’re not really good right now.”

Despite the weaknesses, there was little doubt as to who the better team was on this night. The Bearcats moved the ball around the perimeter with flair and grace, especially in the first half, when they started the night 6-of-10 from 3-point range. They finished 9-for-20 (45 percent) from behind the arc.

Senior Troy Hailey hit nothing but net from downtown, nailing three 3’s in the first half.

“We’ve got to keep getting Troy the ball,” Gordon said. Hailey finished with 11 points.

While the outside shooting came through, BU’s interior play continued to be shaky, as Walker split minutes between Giovanni Olomo (16 minutes), Ian Milne (25 minutes), Duane James (23 minutes), Lazar Trifunovic (12 minutes) and Jaan Montgomery (4 minutes).

On this night, none of the five big guys had more than four rebounds, but the freshman, Trifunovic seemed most efficient with seven points, including a pair of clutch free throws with 46 seconds left to extend the BU lead back to five.

“Lazar really played the best [of the forwards],” Walker said. “It will all sort itself out.”

Even with BU’s stellar shooting, the Mountaineers actually out-shot the Bearcats 44.2 percent to 40 percent on the night, but BU’s 24-10 edge at the charity stripe made the difference.

“There’s one place we can’t guard them, and that’s the free throw line,” said Mt. St. Mary’s head coach Milan Brown. “They did a good job making shots from the free throw line.”

Another bright spot for the Bearcats was the play of senior guard Steve Proctor, who played a surprising 23 minutes off the bench in his first game back from a wrist injury. He said he only expected to play about 10 minutes, but Proctor was still on the court in crunch time, picking up a block and a sprawling rebound and hit four crucial free throws in the last 24 seconds to ice it for BU.

“Mike’s looking for me when I get open,” Proctor said. “Our chemistry is really building.”

Gordon finished with six assists.

The game was played in front of 2,820 fans, a far cry from the 4,073 that watched BU fall to Niagara in last year’s home opener.

Binghamton will next take on Cornell this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at the Events Center.

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As announced last night, the Zoo is planning a road trip to Colgate to watch BU take on the Red Raiders next Monday night. For more information, contact Or Raitses at sraitse1@binghamton.edu.