After blowing out Misericordia 77-48 on Saturday, the Binghamton men’s basketball team faced a 2024 NCAA tournament team in Longwood at the Events Center Tuesday night, falling short 66-60. Both squads were neck and neck for most of the matchup due to strong defensive efforts, but costly late fouls by BU put the game out of reach.

“I think the biggest thing is you’re playing against quality opponents that force you to execute, force you to defend, force you to rebound,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “It’s the same opponents we’re going to see in our league … Playing against these teams definitely prepare us for our league, and I’m happy we were able to set up the schedule that way.”

Binghamton (2-4) started hot offensively against Longwood (5-0), jumping out to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes capped by a three-pointer from graduate student guard Tymu Chenery. Through heavy usage of a 1-3-1 zone, the Bearcats were often able to stymie the Lancers from making major offensive runs. Periods where Longwood could establish a lead, such as going up 14-11, were broken up by big stops. This included a 10-point run that made it 21-14 for BU after graduate student forward Ben Callahan-Gold knocked down a three from the perimeter. Binghamton’s physical play, however, resulted in Longwood getting to the line 14 times in the half. Binghamton held a narrow 35-33 advantage going into the half.

“We want to play fast,” Sanders said. “But as a coach, you have to say to yourself, ‘We can’t because we’re fourth in the country right now in turnovers.’ So obviously we can’t play fast because we just throw it all over the gym.”

Going into the second half, the game’s back-and-forth pace carried over after Longwood scored twice to go up 38-36, which was answered by an and-one layup by sophomore guard Jayden Lemond to give BU a 39-38 advantage. Callahan-Gold got back to work from the perimeter with back-to-back three-pointers, making it 45-38. Yet despite BU’s best efforts, Longwood’s shooters found success from the perimeter with a big three to take back momentum and a 51-50 lead.

“We have to slow down, be able to execute,” Sanders said. “If we never get a fast break, we never get a fast break.”

As Longwood’s offense heated up, sophomore forward Gavin Walsh took the Bearcats’ offense into his own hands, stringing together a series of second-chance shots and layups to keep Binghamton within contention. The sophomore’s biggest score was a driving layup to make it 59-58 with less than a minute to go. However, BU was kept out of reach as another big three-point answer by the Lancers made it a four-point game. The biggest damage in the final minute, however, was two self-inflicted fouls by the Bearcats, allowing Longwood to go 4-for-4 from the line in response. The Bearcats were ultimately defeated 66-60, suffering their first home loss of the campaign.

“We got to play without fouling,” Sanders said. “We didn’t do a good job playing without fouling. [Longwood was] 21-for-25 from the free throw line, so they punished us every time we put them on the line.”

Callahan-Gold shot 5-for-12 from beyond the arc, leading BU in scoring for a second straight game with 15 points. Chenery was right behind him at 14. Meanwhile, Walsh netted his fourth double-double in a row with 11 points and 12 boards to get within one of the school record. Despite some individual Bearcat success with boards, the team struggled to grab offensive rebounds Tuesday at a 20 to six deficit while committing 23 fouls to Longwood’s 15.

“If a team is getting 20 offensive rebounds, that’s possessions that we never ever get an opportunity to get a shot at the basket,” Sanders said. “So you think about the [shots attempted] is 62 to 48, right? They have that much more possessions than we had, and it’s a six-point game. It’s a possession game, so we can’t give teams that many more possessions than us.”

Binghamton will look to find more success on the road on Sunday, Nov. 24 as the team visits Central Connecticut State. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. at William H. Detrick Gymnasium in New Britain, Connecticut.