FORT MYERS, Fla. - Binghamton men's basketball (4-3) exploded for 55 second-half points to overtake Big West power Long Beach State (1-6) 72-64 Thursday night at FGCU's Alico Arena. The neutral-site win over a nationally-prominent program ranks as one of the best regular-season victories in BU's Division I tenure. The teams finished competition in the Battle4Atlantis Mainland on Thanksgiving night. 

Playing the team's third game in as many nights, the Bearcats trailed 24-17 at half before producing for their highest second-half point total in three years. In the decisive second half, Binghamton shot 52 percent and drained 7-of-14 from three-point range to defeat a 49ers team that was picked to win the Big West after reaching national postseason tournaments four times in the last five years, including NCAA berths in 2012 and 2014. Long Beach State entered the game ranked No. 19 in the latest Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. 

"That's as big of a win as we've had in my time here," head coach Tommy Dempsey said. "Man our kids played hard ... I'm so proud of our effort. We were shorthanded and so much smaller but we played so tough and stayed with it. We struggled to score in the first half but our defense and fight kept us in it. To score 55 points in the second half ... that showed incredible fight. We got every 50-50 ball, made big shots and played harder and more together than Long Beach and it showed up over the course of 40 minutes. Shooting gets contagious and after we made our first few shots in the second half the game loosened up for us. We probably had more grit than execution tonight. We played like a family and that's what you have to do when you are undermanned."

Junior forward Dusan Perovic (8-of-14) and redshirt sophomore guard J.C. Show (9-of-9 FT) netted a game-high 21 points apiece. Perovic drilled 4-of-5 threes in the second half to spark the comeback. 

Binghamton trailed 42-32 with 12:31 to play in the game before catching fire. Over the next 9:18, BU outscored Long Beach State 30-13 to grab the lead. The score was tied at 53-53 with 3:47 left when Perovic hit his fifth three-pointer of the game (5-of-9) to give the Bearcats the lead for good. The Bearcats made 10-of-10 free throws in the final 1:15 to preserve the win.    

The Bearcats now travel to Miami and after two days of much-needed rest, BU will face FIU at 7 p.m. on Sunday to wrap up its Florida trip. 

NOTES
The 55 second-half points equaled the second-highest in Binghamton's 16-year Division I tenure, topped only by the 59 put on the board in a 89-79 win at Cornell on Nov. 13, 2013. The Bearcats also scored 55 second-half points in an 85-83 win at Vermont on Feb. 4, 2009. The program record for first-half points is 52, set against UMBC in an America East first round tournament game at Hartford on March 3, 2011 (91-65 win).