Game Notes

Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)

VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball gets a step closer to full strength but will face a tough foe when second-place Vermont comes to town on Wednesday. The Bearcats (4-24, 3-10 America East) and Catamounts (16-10, 11-2 AE) tip at 7 p.m. at the Events Center

QUICK HITS
•    The Bearcats host defending regular season champion and current second-place team Vermont Wednesday night in the team's second-to-last home game of the season.         

• Binghamton sits in the No. 6 playoff position with three regular season games remaining. The Bearcats will be on the road for a quarterfinal game on March 4, likely playing at Stony Brook, UNH or Vermont.            

• Freshman wing Justin McFadden is expected back in the lineup after missing 2+ games with an illness. McFadden leads the team in FT shooting (77%), is second in FG% (41%) and assists (46) and third in rebounding (3.7 rpg.) 

• Sophomore guard Marlon Beck II has hit double figures in nine of his last 12 games, including his last five games (13.0 ppg.).    

• Binghamton has been hit by two key injuries to its frontcourt. Six-foot-9 sophomore Nick Madray went down with an ankle injury after scoring 20 points vs. St. Bonaventure on Dec. 20. He has missed the last 15 games. Six-foot-9 center and leading scorer Dusan Perovic (11.5 ppg.) suffered an ACL injury at practice on Jan. 5 and will be lost for the remainder of the season. 

• Binghamton has statistically the youngest team in the entire country (StatSheet.com). It's 14 players have a combined 10 years of collegiate experience. There are only two upperclassmen on the roster (1 senior, 1 junior).

• Since conference play began, four of the team's top-five scorers are freshmen. Binghamton is one of just three teams across the entire nation whose top two scorers (Rodriguez, Walker) are both freshmen. Central Florida and UMass Lowell are the other two teams. Counting the injured Perovic, BU is the only team in the country whose top THREE scorers are all freshmen. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
On Saturday, host New Hampshire started the second half with a 15-2 run and the Wildcats wore out shorthanded Binghamton 66-48 at Lundholm Gym. Down 30-23 at the break, BU missed nine of its first 10 shots to start the second period and UNH capitalized with the decisive run. Despite a lingering illness, freshman forward Bobby Ahearn put in a gutsy showing with 10 points and six rebounds before fouling out with 6:23 left. It was the sixth time this season he has reached double figures. Sophomore guards Yosef Yacob and Marlon Beck each also netted 10 points - the 10th time this season Beck has reached twin digits. Binghamton played its third straight game (second full game) without top defender Justin McFadden, who is recovering from an illness… the Bearcats traveled with just nine players, including Ahearn, who was visibly under the weather.

SCOUTING VERMONT
The Catamounts (16-10, 11-2 AE) have won five straight, by an average winning cushion of 22 points. On Saturday, UVM shot 52 percent and pulled away in the second half over visiting UMBC 74-51. Junior forward Ethan O'Day led all scorers with 22 points. One game earlier, the Cats shot 84 percent in the first half of a 43-point blowout win over UMass Lowell. In conference play, Vermont is shooting 49 percent from the field and is scoring more than 68 points per game. The team leads the league and ranks 13th nationally by holding foes to 57.4 points per game. In true "team" fashion, UVM has nobody in the league's top-9 in scoring or rebounding, yet sits in second place in the standings.          

ALL-TIME SERIES
Vermont owns a commanding 24-7 lead in the all-time series and has won the last five meetings. Binghamton has won five of those seven games at home (5-11). In the first meeting between the two teams on January 19 in Burlington, UVM built a 10-point halftime lead and went on to a 64-44 win at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts, led from start to finish, made 21-of-23 free throws and were plus 10 on the glass. The Bearcats drew no closer than eight points in the second half. Freshman forward Willie Rodriguez led BU with 12 points. The Bearcats will hope to duplicate their performance from last March at the Events Center, when BU pushed then first-place Vermont to overtime before losing 92-82 in a wild contest. Yosef Yacob had 22 points and the Bearcats made 40-of-49 free throws in a game that was bogged down by 65 combined fouls.