For eight minutes on Friday night, it seemed as if the Binghamton men’s basketball team were going to have its hands full in its exhibition game against Division III Cobleskill.
The game was tied, 10-10, heading into the first media timeout with just over four minutes gone by in the half. Four minutes later, Cobleskill trailed the Bearcats by just three, 15-12. But from there, Binghamton turned the game into a laugher. BU suffocated the Cobleskill offense, causing turnover after turnover and scoring easily off of the fast break. Binghamton ran its DIII opponent out of the gym with a 92-53 victory.
“I thought we took care of business tonight,” BU head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “We weren’t going to take anybody lightly. We showed up ready to work tonight and overall put on a very solid performance.”
The Bearcats used the last 12 minutes of the half to pull away from Cobleskill. Binghamton outscored its opponent, 45-14, to close out the period. BU forced the Tigers into eight turnovers during that time period while knocking down five 3-pointers. The Bearcats shot 55 percent over those 12 minutes and headed into the locker room with a resounding 50-26 lead.
“We just kept coming at them,” Dempsey said. “I thought they got off to a good start. They were hyped when the game started and they made some shots … We were able to turn them over, get out in transition, just kind of took control of the game.”
Binghamton picked up right where it left off to start the second half. The Bearcats pushed their lead to 30 on a layup by freshman guard Everson Davis with just over 17 minutes to play. From that point on, Cobleskill didn’t cut the deficit down to more than 25.
BU nailed seven 3-pointers in the half and shot at a 53.8 percent clip from the field to break the game wide open. The contest was never close in the second half as the Bearcats opened up a 41-point lead with just under five minutes remaining, cruising to an easy win.
The Bearcats defense was stellar throughout the contest. Binghamton recorded 12 steals and forced its opponent to turn the ball over 20 times. BU capitalized on those turnovers, scoring 30 points off of them.
“I think we found a lot of success on the break and we see the potential we could have if we lock in on this defense and get it moving and get it running,” BU sophomore guard Romello Walker said. “We got out and got on some breaks and we’ve seen some good results.”
Walker led the Bearcats with 20 points on the night while pulling in five rebounds.
In their first time donning the Bearcat uniform, Davis and freshman forward Thomas Bruce were impressive. Davis recorded 12 points and dished out four assists while Bruce was a force defensively and on the glass. He registered three steals, grabbed nine rebounds and added eight points.
Redshirt freshman guard John Schurman also had a stellar debut. Schurman came to Binghamton with the reputation of being a knock-down shooter, and he didn’t disappoint against Cobleskill. He drained four 3-pointers and scored 17 points on the night.
“It’s been a while since I put on a uniform and played out there,” Schurman said. “But, once I saw one go in, [my nerves] kind of all went away and it started to flow.”
Binghamton is scheduled to return to action when it opens its regular season against St. Bonaventure on Friday. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. from the Reilly Center in Olean, New York.