Much to the dismay of the crowd at Patrick Gym in Burlington last night, the Binghamton University men’s basketball team proved that their winning ways of late have been no fluke, defeating the University of Vermont, 85-83, in a stunning come-from-behind victory, their second such win in less than a week.
Coming off a come-from-behind victory over Maine on Saturday and now playing without their second-leading scorer, junior Malik Alvin, who sat out with a knee injury, the Bearcats (14-8, 7-3 AE) trailed in the game by as much as 25 points. The Catamounts (16-7, 7-3) kept the pressure on the Bearcat offense, including the America East’s leading scorer junior D.J. Rivera, limiting them to 30 points in the first half, while scoring 53 themselves. Rivera notched only five points in the half. The Catamounts still led by 20 points with 10 minutes left, until the Binghamton offense stepped up, ending the game on a 22-6 run to earn the two-point win, in the process snapping Vermont’s seven-game winning streak.
With the win, the Bearcats have won four of their last five games and are now tied for second place in the America East with Vermont. However, the Bearcats have now won both encounters between the teams this season, having defeated the Catamounts, 91-83, in overtime on Jan. 8.
“We knew what was at stake and fought for 40 minutes,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin Broadus, according to a Binghamton University press release. “Vermont is a very good ball club, and we were fortunate and blessed to come back against them. All of our players contributed and they had energy and excitement, and were determined to win.”
The savior for the Bearcats in this affair was junior guard Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben. Known primarily as a “pass first” point guard, Mayben poured in 22 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, including 14 in the final 6:17 of play. He nailed 5-9 3-point opportunities, and went 11-17 overall from the field. He also added six assists and five rebounds. He now ranks fourth in the conference in assists with 4.3 per game, trailing, among others, Vermont’s senior Mike Trimboli, who is second in the conference in the category with 4.7 assists per game.
After climbing out from under the double-digit deficit, the Bearcats faced an 83-83 tie score with 44 seconds to go in regulation. Then, Rivera hit a short shot with 7.8 seconds left to seal the victory for Binghamton.
The win was Binghamton’s fourth in the last five games, in addition to their 14th overall win, which equals last season’s final total.
Rivera finished with 21 points and a team-high nine rebounds. He is still the leading scorer in the conference with 20.4 points per game.
The Bearcat defense locked down on the Catamounts in the second half, allowing only eight field goals. This is no easy task, as the Vermont offense boasts the fifth and sixth-leading scorers in the conference in junior Marqus Blakely (15.5 points per game) and Trimboli (15.4). Blakely also leads the conference in blocks (3.0 per game) and is second in rebounds, with 8.6 per game. He had 18 points in this game, but only three in the second half. He also added five rebounds and six blocks. Trimboli notched 14 points and seven assists.
The next test for the Bearcats will be this Saturday as they travel to Long Island for a matchup against Stony Brook. The Seawolves (13-10, 5-5 AE) are riding high after two straight wins over New Hampshire and Maine in the past week. The Seawolves were on the losing end of things the last time that they played the Bearcats, dropping the encounter 67-60 on Jan. 5. Rivera led the Bearcats in scoring with 16 points in the game. The America East’s leading rebounder, freshman Tommy Brenton, led the way for Stony Brook, scoring 14 points and grabbing eleven boards.
Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. at Pritchard Gymnasium.