Maybe he was trying to distract sophomore guard Everson Davis. Maybe he was attempting to call another ill-fated play. Early in the second half, Marywood freshman guard John Grossi rapidly waved his left hand across his face before losing control of the ball, causing a turnover.
Grossi and the rest of the Pacers (0-10) looked woefully out of place against the Binghamton men’s basketball team on Friday afternoon. The Bearcats (9-6) danced their way to a predictable 101-54 win against Marywood — a winless Division III team.
Binghamton used its first game back after a nine-day break to prepare for conference play. Against Marywood, BU head coach Tommy Dempsey tried new lineups, giving his bench players more opportunities.
“I was just really pleased with our focus today,” Dempsey said. “These can be tough games coming off the holiday, but I thought the players were locked in. We respected Marywood; we respected the game and we played well.”
Binghamton recorded its highest point total since becoming a Division I program in 2001. With nine wins, the Bearcats have already surpassed the win total of each of their previous seasons since 2009-10. Three of those wins, however, have come against non-Division I opponents.
In the first three minutes, Marywood held Binghamton to an 8-6 lead. By the end of the first half, however, the Bearcats’ lead had grown to 32. Even with its bench playing most of the game, BU stifled the Pacers’ offense and glided past their defense.
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez led Binghamton in scoring, tallying 21 points. Senior guard John Rinaldi led the Bearcats with 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“I feel a little more comfortable as I’ve spent more time here,” Rinaldi said. “Now I’m just trying to get my teammates more involved and trying to crash the board, and that’s what I was trying to do today.”
In its final nonconference game, BU shot a 61.1 percent clip from the field — its highest of the season — including 14 of 22 from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Tip Swartz and junior guard James Curley led Marywood with eight points each, going 2-for-7 and 3-for-7 from the field, respectively. The Pacers shot just 37 percent from the floor.
“We’re a really deep team and we were able to rotate everyone off the bench pretty seamlessly,” Rinaldi said. “We didn’t make too many mistakes.”
Senior guard Marlon Beck scored 11 points in just six minutes off the bench. He was removed from the game after suffering a blow to the face and received eight stitches during halftime. He was available to play in the second half, but didn’t see the court due to BU’s large lead.
After suffering a concussion in practice on Thursday, redshirt junior guard Yosef Yacob sat out against Marywood. According to Dempsey, Yacob will be available to play in Binghamton’s America East opener next week.
Binghamton is set to begin conference play against UMBC on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from the Retriever Activities Center in Cantonsville, Maryland.
“We’re excited as a group,” Dempsey said. “Moving forward, we’re excited about playing good basketball and we’re excited about winning.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified Yosef Yacob as a redshirt sophomore. He is a redshirt junior.