The second time around against New Hampshire, things couldn’t have gone more differently for the Binghamton men’s basketball team.
On Jan. 17, the Wildcats (16-10, 9-4 America East) only just pulled a win over the Bearcats (4-24, 3-10 AE) in a game that saw 12 lead changes. The eventual 73-66 victory came in overtime, during which BU went 1 for 6 from the floor and missed six from the line as UNH drained a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor.
In the teams’ second meeting of the season at Lundholm Gymnasium on Saturday, UNH posted a dominant 66-48 win over Binghamton and held a vice-grip on its lead. The Wildcats controlled the flow of the game from the starting gate to the final buzzer, finding production even with their leading scorers stifled by BU’s gritty defense.
BU, on the other hand, couldn’t get its shots to fall in and finished on a 27.8 percent clip from the floor.
“New Hampshire is playing very well and we had a hard time putting the ball in the basket,” BU head coach Tommy Dempsey said, according to bubearcats.com. “Sometimes there isn’t a remedy when the shots aren’t falling. We played very hard and fought hard on the glass though. It was a long shooting day but I thought our competitive spirit was there.”
In the first half, Binghamton was especially effective defensively. UNH’s leading scorers in freshman forward Tanner Leissner (13.1 ppg) and sophomore forward Jacoby Armstrong (9.2 ppg) combined to shoot 0 for 9 from the floor through the period, and sophomore guard Jaleen Smith (10.5 ppg) was whistled for two fouls in the first 3:50 to spend the remainder of the half on the bench.
So while Binghamton’s offense wasn’t very productive, its defense was as rigorous as ever. The Bearcats forced seven turnovers in the half off their press and limited UNH to 32 percent shooting from the floor with a potent zone, though behind senior sharpshooter Matt Miller, the Wildcats sunk 56 percent of their shots from deep.
The Bearcats brought it to within two on a 6-0 run that spanned four minutes, during which time UNH was offensively stagnant. Sophomore guard Marlon Beck II laid in back-to-back buckets on hard drives into the paint and freshman guard Bobby Ahearn brought the score to 13-11 with a rebound and lay in with 9:49 left in the half. But UNH found a rhythm again and carried a 30-23 lead heading into the locker rooms.
The second half opened with UNH on a 15-2 run while Binghamton shot 0 for 6 from the field over the first six minutes. Crucial for the Wildcats were Leissner and Armstrong, who contributed 13 points to the run. With 14:30 left in the game, the Wildcats held a 20-point advantage, 45-25.
BU would reduce the margin to 12 with 3:20 to go after a series of layups and trips to the charity stripe, plus two 3-pointers from freshman forward Willie Rodriguez. That was the closest the game had been in the half.
But from no lack of effort, Binghamton had to watch as UNH pulled away again. Offensively, BU sputtered and shot 1 for 7 from the floor in that final 3:20. Sophomore guard Yosef Yacob added the Bearcats’ last points on a traditional 3-point play.
Defensively, however, Binghamton recorded two steals and pulled down three offensive boards, getting extra looks but failing to capitalize on them.
UNH eventually came away with a 66-48 victory, extending a hot streak that has seen the Wildcats take 10 of their last 12 games.
Through the game, UNH shot 40.7 percent from the field. Though the Wildcats outrebounded the Bearcats heftily, 45-32, the discrepancy came from the defensive end, where the difference was 32-20. That was more a product of UNH’s better shooting.
Miller and Leissner led all scorers with 14 points apiece, with Miller going 4 for 6 from deep. Leissner posted a double-double in adding 15 rebounds.
For Binghamton, Beck, Yosef and Ahearn scored 10 points each, with Ahearn adding a team-high six boards despite a lingering illness limiting his playing time.
Next up for Binghamton is a home matchup with Vermont. The Catamounts (16-10, 11-2 AE) will carry a five-game winning streak — through which they have outscored their opponents by an average of 22.6 points — into the Events Center on Wednesday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.