With less than five seconds remaining, the Binghamton men’s basketball team knotted the score against Stonehill at 66 when senior guard Jacob Falko drove into the lane for a layup. However, the visitors fired back on the other end, hitting a last-second three-pointer that connected as the final buzzer sounded, handing the Bearcats a 69-66 loss on Saturday.

“It’s just something we gotta learn from,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “We get a basket [to] tie the game, but now we gotta identify everybody [and] matchup so we don’t give [Stonehill] that opportunity, but I’m happy with the way we played.”

After winning the opening tip, BU (3-5) struggled to score before graduate student guard Christian Hinckson connected on a jump shot two and a half minutes into play. After four minutes, Stonehill (4-6) managed only a 3-2 lead as both teams stumbled offensively. Around midway through the first half, the Bearcats found themselves down 17-6.

Despite the slow start offensively, with just under nine minutes remaining in the half, junior guard John McGriff completed an and-one basket. On the next possession, McGriff hit a three-pointer to narrow the deficit to seven. Graduate student forward Miles Gibson followed McGriff up with a three of his own to bring it to four, but the Skyhawks responded with one of their own.

However, Binghamton did not let up, as junior forward Tariq Balogun finished a rim-rattling dunk followed by a McGriff three-pointer that brought the Bearcats’ deficit back to two points with just over five minutes remaining in the half.

“[McGriff] got a lot of kick outs and he knocked shots down,” Sanders said. “I thought that was pretty good in how we needed to play because we figured [Stonehill] was going to pack it in [defensively].”

With the remaining time left in the half, both teams went back and forth as the score read 36-32 at the halftime buzzer. BU struggled to contain Stonehill’s offense as it allowed 50 percent shooting from three by the visitors for the game.

“The unique thing about [Stonehill] is that they have five guys on the floor at all times that can shoot threes,” Sanders said. “It really puts pressure on your defense… It’s hard to guard teams when they have five guys on the floor that can make threes.”

Binghamton opened the second half by giving up a quick 5-0 run to fall behind 41-32. Coming out of a timeout, Hinckson hit a quick three-pointer. A few minutes later, Falko hit a step-back three, cutting the deficit to six. After giving up a three-point play on defense, the Bearcats rallied back as McGriff hit another three-pointer, his fourth of the game. Just over three minutes later, Gibson hit back-to-back mid-range jumpers to shrink the deficit to four with under 13 minutes to play.

“In the second half [Gibson] kind of got going,” Sanders said. “We ran a few plays for him [to] isolate him a bit. He made a couple of shots, so I think at any point on our team we have a number of guys who can carry us offensively … We needed [McGriff] and [Gibson] to step up, and I thought they did a really good job.”

Over the next nine minutes of play, this margin did not vary much as BU was unable to close the gap. However, with under four minutes to play, Hinckson hit a three-pointer to cut the Stonehill lead to two. With two and a half minutes to play and the Bearcats down by three, Falko turned the ball over on offense. However, the Bearcat sprinted back and blocked Stonehill’s fast break opportunity and raced back, converting an and-one layup to even up the score at 61 apiece.

“Our ability to get some stops and then our ability to rebound the ball,” Sanders said. “I thought [that] really helped us stay in the game and give us extra possessions.”

Down four with less than 30 seconds to play, Falko drove into the lane and hit a strong layup plus the foul. After the Skyhawks hit one-of-two free throws, Falko pushed the tempo on offense once again and tied the game at 66 with a tough layup. Despite knotting up the score, five seconds still remained on the clock. Stonehill inbounded the ball and quickly pushed it up the court, leading to an open three on the left wing. The Skyhawk hit the shot with no time remaining on the clock, handing the Bearcats a 69-66 loss.

“I actually liked the way we played today,” Sanders said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of defending … But for the most part, we had 62 possessions, [Stonehill] got 48 possessions. We had 14 offensive rebounds, so I really liked the way we came out and really went after it.”

BU is set to host Colgate on Wednesday, Dec. 7. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.