VESTAL, N.Y. - After what will be the longest idle stretch of the four-plus month season, Binghamton men's basketball (8-6) returns to the hardwood on Friday, hosting Marywood at 4 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court. The Events Center afternoon doubleheader begins with the BU women playing at 2 p.m.

The Bearcats are playing their final non-conference game of the season before the America East slate begins. Head coach Tommy Dempsey's squad has a chance to eclipse last year's entire win total before league play starts. Binghamton has won four of its last six games to already claim the most non-conference wins during the program's 16-year Division I tenure.

In its last outing on Dec. 21, BU surrendered a late Army run and lost on the road 71-60. It was a one-possession game with under four minutes to play before the Black Knights used an 11-0 run to seal the win. Junior forward Willie Rodriguez notched his first double-double of the season with team-highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds and sophomore guard Everson Davis added 12 points. 

Junior forward Bobby Ahearn is shooting 65 percent from the floor and leads the team with a 10.6 scoring average. Rodriguez, working his way back from an injury, is up to 9.8 points and a team-high 5.0 rebounds per game.

The Bearcats are scoring 70.5 points per game and have a balance with eight players scoring 5.0 or more points per game. That figure doesn't include leading scorer and minutes man J.C. Show, who averaged 13.3 points through 12 games before an injury ended his season.

Marywood, which plays out of the Division III Colonial States Athletic Conference, is still searching for its first win of the season. The Pacers (0-9) are a young team with 12 underclassmen. Five of the team's losses have come by 12 or fewer points, including a 78-71 defeat to NYU and an overtime setback to Hunter in the first two games of the season.

Sophomore forward Jeremy Ringland is shooting 55 percent and leads the team in scoring (13.4 ppg.).

Binghamton and Marywood have met one previous time - a 76-51 Bearcats win during the 2012-13 season. In that game, BU opened the second half with a 15-0 run and used its size and athleticism to pull away from the visiting Pacers. Binghamton put 10 players in the scoring column and stretched a nine-point halftime lead.

After Friday, BU will prepare for its America East opener next Thursday at UMBC.