The Binghamton men’s basketball team has not played a single game yet, but it already has its first loss of the season.
Senior guard Steven Proctor will be out for six to eight weeks with a broken right hand. He injured it during Sunday evening’s practice when his hand got pulled back while caught on a player’s jersey.
“It’s extremely frustrating because I want to be out there,” Proctor said. “For this to happen for the second year in a row is just devastating right now, but I should be back fairly soon.”
Proctor missed 14 games at the beginning of last season with a broken wrist on the same hand, but still managed to step up late in the season as a role player and was positioning himself for a starting spot this season.
“He had the inside track playing behind Andre [Heard],” head coach Al Walker said. “But this opens it up for Marvin Lee and Dwayne Jackson to get some quality time right in there.”
Lee, a junior college transfer, is one of four newcomers. Joining him is another junior college transfer Richard Forbes and two freshmen forwards from Serbia, Miladin Kovacevic and Lazar Trifunovic.
They will try to make up for the loss of five Bearcats, including first-team all-conference guard Andre Heard (17.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and America East Defensive Player of the Year Sebastian Hermenier (11.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg), who were ranked 1-2 in both scoring and rebounding on the team.
The other three departed players are Schafer Jackson, who graduated in the spring, and Jordan Fithian and Drew Davison, who both transferred to Emporia State College in Kansas.
The Bearcats will be led this season by captain junior point guard Mike Gordon, a third-team all-conference selection who was also second in the conference in both assists (4.5 apg) and steals (1.6 spg). Senior Troy Hailey, who had surgery on his foot in the offseason, returns as the team’s top returning scorer after averaging 8.6 points per game last season. Along with Jackson, three forwards — junior Giovanni Olomo, sophomore Ian Milne and senior Duane James — will also look to have an impact as returning players.
James, who rolled his ankle in practice, was out a few days, but it is nothing serious. He will be back practicing again this weekend.
The Bearcats will compete against each other in the Green and White scrimmage next Saturday, Oct. 28, at 11 a.m. in the Events Center.
“It’s just a good opportunity to play with referees and people in the gym,” Walker said. “We give it a game-like scenario prior to the exhibition game.”
The first exhibition game will be on Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. in the Events Center against Mansfield, who the Bearcats beat 94-71 last season.