Coming off a 35-point loss against Colgate, the Binghamton men’s basketball team got back into the win column with a 79-64 victory over Stonehill on Saturday afternoon. After trading baskets to start, BU grabbed the lead halfway through the first half. With 21 total second-chance points, the Bearcats held off any type of comeback from the Skyhawks in the second half and secured a 15-point win.

“The guys have been pretty good whenever we’ve lost this year,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “[In terms of] locking back in [and] focusing back in on the team at hand, I thought we did a really good job with that. We had a really good practice on Friday. Once you prepare yourself, put yourself in a position to be successful, that’s where good things happen.”

After forcing a Binghamton (5-4) turnover, Stonehill (1-8) got the scoring started in transition with a fast break layup. Binghamton quickly responded when senior forward Nehemiah Benson outmuscled a Skyhawk defender in the paint for a layup of his own. Stonehill then imposed a 2-2-1 press but BU moved the ball swiftly down the court as junior guard Tymu Chenery found Benson under the basket for two points. Then, senior guard Armon Harried drilled a turnaround jump shot and a corner three-pointer — back to back — to cut Stonehill’s lead to 15-11.

“We didn’t want to settle for taking a whole bunch of three-point shots,” Sanders said. “We wanted to attack the paint [and] keep the ball inside because, in a three-two zone, the middle is wide open, and I thought we did a really good job with that.”

Soon after, the Bearcats tightened up their defense, recording five blocks in just over five minutes. Graduate student guard Symir Torrence forced a steal and made a transition layup that gave BU a 17-15 lead. The offense stayed hot as sophomore guard Chris Walker and Chenery drained back-to-back three-pointers to extend the lead to six points. BU led by as much as 10 points in the half. However, Stonehill kept things close, going on a 7-0 run to make it 27-24. Going into halftime, Binghamton was able to retain a 32-26 lead.

“The first thing we want to focus on [is] being really good defensively,” Sanders said. “We can stop people and get out and run in transition, getting easy baskets … This was a much better overall game in terms of both sides of the ball offensively and defensively.”

The Skyhawks got the scoring started in the second half, cutting the deficit to four points. Benson got BU on the board after grabbing an offensive rebound and completing a three-point play to make it 35-28. A few possessions later, a full-court pass from Torrence allowed Chenery to get a fast-break layup while being fouled in the process. Chenery converted from the free-throw line to give BU a 38-28 lead.

“We wanted to ask specific guys to attack the glass and create second chance opportunities,” Sanders said. “That’s one of the ways you can attack zone. You can penetrate, get the ball to the middle, get the ball behind the zone, you can create two-on-ones.”

The Bearcats’ offense kept their momentum as Chenery attacked the basket and completed another three-point play to give BU a 51-38 point lead. Binghamton was able to maintain a double-digit lead as Walker drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to make it 66-52. Binghamton controlled the game the rest of the way, recording a 79-64 victory.

​​”We didn’t settle for threes,” Sanders said. “We were six-for-16 but we didn’t just come out and shack up the first open shot. [Benson] and [freshman forward Gavin Walsh], the guys did a really good job … Also, I thought we got out in transition and ran, which didn’t really give the [Stonehill] zone a chance to set up.”

The victory saw a team effort on both ends of the floor. On offense, Chenery led the way with 22 points. Benson and Walker scored 17 and 14 points, respectively, in the winning effort. As a team on defense, Binghamton totaled seven blocks and five steals.

“We want to be versatile,” Sanders said. “We want to have different guys lead us, depending on the day and the team [we’re going to] play against … When you can have that balance, you can be a really good team. You can be a hard team to defend because teams are not just worried about one guy.”

Binghamton will return for a two-game home stand, starting against Le Moyne on Saturday, Dec. 9. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.