After a 65-61 win over Albany last Saturday, the Binghamton men’s basketball team carried its momentum as strong rebounding powered the team past UMass Lowell 66-54 to begin the week, but the team ultimately fell short 78-71 to first-place Bryant on Saturday.

“It has to carry over,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “That’s the recipe to be successful on the road. You got to make free throws, you can’t turn the basketball over, and you have to be able to rebound.”

After winning the tipoff, Binghamton (12-13, 4-6 AE) wasted no time mounting a 4-0 lead-off of strong inside-the-arc scores from senior forward Nehemiah Benson and graduate student guard Tymu Chenery. The River Hawks (15-9, 4-5 AE) responded with a 7-0 run of its own for the lead while holding the hosts to 25 percent shooting on eight attempts heading into the first media timeout.

A three from Chenery put Binghamton up a 9-7 lead, but inefficiency from both sides made it a game of scoring runs. Thanks to strong offensive rebounding–outnumbering the River Hawks 8-4 on the period — and a timely three-pointer from senior guard Wes Peterson Jr. for cushion, Binghamton entered the half up 24-21.

“We really talked about probably the biggest key for us was rebounding the basketball,” Sanders said. “You can see they were flying in and trying to get rebounds. I thought we did a good job of rebounding the basketball.”

While Lowell struck first inside to open the second, Benson quickly responded with a layup to go back up three before a three-point play from redshirt junior guard Chris Walker made it 30-25. The Bearcats did not allow Lowell to get closer than five points the rest of the way, pouring in an efficient 16 made field goals on 28 attempts.

Although the River Hawks started to force turnovers after switching into a press in the closing minutes, a dunk from Chenery to go up 12 with just a minute to go sealed it. After exchanging fouls to close it out, Binghamton upset the River Hawks with a 66-54 victory.

“It was solving our selfishness that was the key,” Sanders said. “In the first half, we did not share the ball with each other, and we got to do a better job of that … If we share the ball and move the ball and give the ball to the open man, everybody will have an opportunity to be successful.”

Although four Bearcats added 10 or more points in the game, the real story of Thursday’s contest was the rebounding. BU grabbed a season-high 52 boards against Lowell, with 40 of them coming on crucial defensive possessions. Leading the way was sophomore forward Gavin Walsh, who broke his own school single-game rebounding record with 23.

“[Coach] was telling me before the game I really gotta focus on the defensive rebounds,” Walsh said. “I love this guy a lot. So when he tells me to do something, and I am able to do it and sort of make him a little happy it makes me happy.”

On Saturday, Binghamton turned its attention to first-place Bryant (15-10, 9-1 AE). The game quickly became a dead heat, with Walsh providing consecutive answers to Bryant’s leads with strong drives to knot things at seven. When Bryant built a nine-point run to go up 21-14, it was time for a different sophomore to take over.

After registering just one shot attempt Thursday, sophomore guard Evan Ashe got to work with a three-pointer to break up the run. Ten points on the half from Ashe included a three-pointer to tie things at 26. While Binghamton did not recapture the lead during this period, Ashe’s efforts kept BU within six heading into halftime.

“[Ashe] had a really good game today,” Sanders said. “They were playing him as a non shooter, and he knocked some shots down. It’s to his credit because he works every day. He goes in the gym, he gets extra shots up.”

The Bearcats found their shot in the second half. Walsh kicked off an eight-point run to open the period that culminated in a three-pointer from Chenery to give BU the lead back at 40-38. From there, broke down into an offensive dogfight with the biggest lead being a five-point advantage off of another big play from Ashe, who drove inside to make it 53-48.

However, Bryant soon exploded for an unanswered ten-point run to take control. Undaunted, the Bearcats used every tool they had to trim Bryant’s lead to just 71-68 off a quick bucket with 40 seconds to go. Yet, Binghamton was unable to get the equalizer, and late free throws cemented a 78-71 win for the Bulldogs.

“I didn’t want us to just start jacking up threes,” Sanders said. “A lot of times in these games if you’re down by three or you’re down by five, then you just start jacking up threes. I wanted us to still attack and try to get to the rim and kind of put some pressure on them to make some free throws.”

Binghamton will look to maintain its best stretch of play on Thursday, Feb. 13 at UMBC. Tipoff at 6 p.m. at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.