Binghamton University’s men’s basketball team can be summed up by a series of well-worn basketball cliches.

“Live by the three, die by the three,” “Defense wins games,” “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and the like.

Take the loss to UMBC, for example. After building a seemingly insurmountable lead against the Retrievers thanks to a 3-point barrage by guards junior Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben and sophomore Brandon Herbert, the Bearcats failed to stay hot in the second half and eventually lost what should have been an easy win. The Retrievers were 2-5 in the conference at the time.

In the next game, the Bearcats were trailing Maine by nine at the half, but went on a 25-7 run after intermission and proceeded to win, 83-77.

The team recorded its second straight win against the Vermont Catamounts, who had previously sat atop the America East standings. Led by Mayben, who shot five-of-six from (where else?) 3-point range in the second half, the Bearcats rallied all the way back from 23 points down at the half and 20 points down with 10 minutes remaining in the game to emerge as the victors. On top of an impressive offensive display, the team held Vermont to just 30 points scored in the second half — nearly half of the team’s output in the first half.

As the team’s momentum builds …

Stony Brook hosted the raging Bearcats three days later. A 12-foot jumper in the lane by Mayben with four seconds left in overtime was responsible for getting the team over the hump. This shot came exactly five minutes of game play after Rivera hit a clutch 12-foot jumper of his own to knot the score at 52 apiece (knowing that overtime for college basketball is five minutes long, you can do the math and see that this shot was hit with four seconds left in regulation), which eventually sent the game into overtime.

Most recently, against the Albany Great Danes, all three in my list-o’-cliches stood out.

The makeup of the first half of the game looked all-too-much like the first 20 minutes of the game against UMBC. Threes were falling and the scoreboard told us what we like to see — a hefty lead. However, as we got further into the second half it became apparent that this game included one thing that the others lacked — consistent effort. Talk to head coach Kevin Broadus about his team for two minutes and you’ll hear that the team needs to work on coming to play for 40 minutes, night in and night out. For the first game that I can remember, the Bearcats did just that.

Also, as if to make sure the cliches held true, the Bearcats attempted over 50 percent of their field goals from downtown in the first half. To be precise, 17 of the Bearcats’ 33 first-half field goal attempts were behind the arc. Nine of the attempts found the bottom of the net. If you don’t follow basketball closely, let it suffice to say that this scenario is rather uncommon. The 3-point clinic, coupled with a full-court press that pushed the Great Danes out of their comfort zone, helped the Bearcats build a 16-point halftime lead.

With the buzzer sounding and 20 minutes put on the clock as the second half was about to commence, this game was still far from over. In fact, if you paid attention to the Bearcats’ history in situations like this, it was likely that the game would finish as a nail-biter. However, Monday night was a Kevin Broadus dream come true. The team essentially put the Great Danes in a stranglehold with its suffocating press that continued to force turnovers and poor shots.

The Bearcats have four games left on their schedule, though they are riding the great wave of momentum. The team is talented enough to win the conference; very few would question that. The past two wins have been against two of the conference’s elite teams, and both were played without guard Malik Alvin, who plays an integral role to the team. Next up for the Bearcats is the most important game of the regular season. Saturday, Feb. 14, the Boston University Terriers, who are currently in first place in the conference, will host the Bearcats.

The only questions surrounding the Bearcats are whether or not they can play their best basketball for 40 minutes when it counts. This would include hitting their threes, locking down on defense and remembering that until the final buzzer sounds, there is basketball to be played.