After nine consecutive losses, the Binghamton University men’s basketball team finally found itself on the winning end Wednesday evening, routing conference rival Hartford University 77-47 at Chase Arena.
The Bearcats (7-19, 4-9 America East), who hadn’t won a game since Jan. 12, played like a team that knew how to win, dominating the Hawks in nearly every statistical category.
Binghamton, who has struggled this season to control the glass, nearly tripled the Hawks in total rebounds, grabbing 42 boards while holding Hartford to 15. Senior forward Mahamoud Jabbi, whose career-high 17 rebounds set a school Division I single-game record, combined with junior Kyrie Sutton for 26 of the team’s boards.
“We were doing things correctly defensively,” said Binghamton head coach Mark Macon. “I think it’s great, I think for Mahamoud [Jabbi] to have 17 rebounds and set a record for our school rebounding in one game, I think that’s great. Every game out he gives you that kind of effort.”
For Macon, Wednesday’s win provided concrete evidence that his team continues to improve. During its recent losing streak, four of Binghamton’s nine losses were by six points or fewer, including an overtime loss to University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Feb. 3.
“It was just trying to get a win; we go into every game looking to win that game, we just hadn’t pulled any out,” Macon said. “The importance is making sure we get better each game in and out, and we had been doing that, but we weren’t able to close out games.”
Macon also praised his team for the way it came out on Wednesday.
“Today everything was going right, everything happened for us right,” he said. “Guys were playing defense the right way, shooting the ball the right way, everything went right. But most of all we played great defense. We did a real great job, and we rebounded the basketball today. You have to applaud our guys for doing that because that’s what we’ve been working on.”
Led by Sutton’s 18-point performance, the Bearcats finished with four players in double digits. Sophomore guard Jimmy Gray added an additional 17 for Binghamton and senior forward Moussa Camara another 15, while Jabbi finished with 12 points.
Gray and Camara went a combined 10-of-13 from behind the arc, scoring all but two of their 32 points from 3-point land. As a team, the Bearcats shot over 55 percent from the floor, and better than 62 percent from downtown.
“That’s them being comfortable shooting, and being open and sharing the ball,” Macon said of his team’s offensive success. “We’re that kind of team, we’re a jump-shooting team, and we’re scoring so that’s great. We’ve had games where we’ve been scoring and still lost.”
Hartford senior Morgan Sabia was the only Hawk in double digits, shooting 4-of-11 from the field for 11 points. Senior Joe Zeglinski, who torched the Bearcats for 26 points earlier this season, scored only seven for Hartford, shooting 1-of-6 from 3-point territory.
Hartford (8-18, 5-8 AE), who has now lost six of its last seven, defeated the Bearcats on Jan. 17, 72-61. In their first meeting, the Hawks’ zone defense gave Binghamton a lot of trouble, forcing BU to shoot worse than 38 percent from the field and just 30 percent from behind the arc.
But in last Sunday’s game against Vermont, the Bearcats got another look at a similar zone, which may have helped them prepare for Hartford’s defensive schemes.
“Hartford actually plays the zone better than Vermont, but Vermont is just a bigger team,” Macon said. “But it was Hartford, we played them before we played Vermont. But tonight we were just making shots and getting the ball to the right place.”
Leading Hartford by 10 after the first 20 minutes of play, the Bearcats opened the second half with a 19-5 scoring run, giving them a 21-point advantage. But Binghamton, whose inability to close out games has haunted it throughout the season, continued to play well down the stretch, utilizing the entire shot clock while executing its offense, tallying its fourth-highest points total of the season and its largest margin of victory.
“We held the ball and let the clock run down,” Macon said. “They were using their heads today at the end of the game. Heads you win, tails you lose. Today we played with our heads.”
Binghamton was perfect from the free-throw line, hitting all five attempts, four of which were by Sutton.
“It’s important to make free throws,” Macon said. “5-for-5, that’s perfection and it can’t hurt to be perfect.”
In addition to snapping a nine-game losing streak and pulling the team out of last place in the conference, Wednesday’s win was significant for not only the team, but for the athletic department as well. After shedding the “interim” label last week and signing a contract extension through the 2013-14 season, Wednesday’s victory marks Macon’s first as the permanent head coach of the Bearcats.
With the win, the Bearcats will look to put their recent struggles in the rearview mirror and focus on their next opponent. Binghamton is set to host the fourth-place University at Albany Great Danes (13-15, 6-7 AE) Sunday afternoon, as BU looks to avenge a 76-37 loss from earlier this season. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m. at the Events Center.