Plagued by turnovers and foul trouble, the Binghamton men’s basketball team came up short on Wednesday night against Vermont, falling 78-64. The final result came despite the Bearcats (6-20, 3-10 America East) shooting a 55.1 percent clip from the field, the team’s highest of the season.
“I thought we found really good rhythm on offense, it’s just the turnovers,” Binghamton head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “We shot well — probably our season high — but the turnovers were just way too many.”
Vermont forced the Bearcats into 16 turnovers and tallied nine offensive rebounds, most of which came from long rebounds off of shot attempts from beyond the arc. The Catamounts (16-12, 8-5 AE) were led in scoring by sophomore guard Cam Ward, who tallied 16 points off of the bench. UVM’s bench accounted for 38 points, nearly half of Vermont’s scoring total. Vermont’s depth allowed them flexibility in how they sought to expose BU’s defense, which is generally a strength for the Bearcats.
“We’re weakest defensively one-on-one and I thought they were able to expose that in the second half,” Dempsey said.
While the Binghamton offense had its best game of the season, BU’s typically strong defense was unable to hold back one of the AE’s best scoring teams, allowing Vermont to shoot 50.8 percent from the field and get to the free throw line 15 times.
“If we get that combination of scoring on one end and set up [and get stops] on the other end, that’s a formula for this team to be successful,” Dempsey said.
In both halves, BU came out strong before fading late. The Bearcats led in both before being overwhelmed by 15-2 and 21-4 runs in the first and second, respectively.
“We had a tough stretch at the end of the first half and I thought that was as big a key to the game as anything,” Dempsey said. “I thought we had control of the game late in that first half. I didn’t expect that we would go into halftime down because we controlled 15 of the 20 [minutes].”
Sophomore forward Willie Rodriguez shot a game-high 22 points for Binghamton, which was followed by junior guard Marlon Beck who tallied 10. Beck and freshman guard Everson Davis were limited late in the game by foul trouble. Beck finished with four fouls while Davis fouled out with just over a minute and a half remaining in the contest.
With its victory against the Bearcats, Vermont clinched home court for the first round of the AE Tournament. The Bearcats currently sit in a tie for seventh place of the conference standings and could be taking another trip to Burlington to open the Tournament.
“Overall we did some good things,” Dempsey concluded. “And we have to build on the positives and try to get one back at home [against UMass Lowell].”
The Bearcats are set to return to action on Saturday against UMass Lowell. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m. from the Events Center in Vestal, New York.