DURHAM, N.H. - New Hampshire (11-6, 2-1 America East) built a 20-point halftime cushion and held off Binghamton men's basketball (9-10, 0-4 AE) 73-66 Saturday afternoon at Lundholm Gym.

Binghamton used an 18-4 run to trim a 19-point deficit to just five 71-66, with 1:01 left. But UNH made two free throws and BU missed a pair of three-point attempts in the final 26 seconds to end it.

In the second half, BU shot 56 percent and outscored UNH 44-31. 

"We got off to a slow start and on the road against a good team, it was too much to overcome," head coach Tommy Dempsey said. "But we worked hard in the second half to come back and did a lot of positive things." 

The Wildcats opened up a double-digit lead five minutes into the contest and shot 64 percent in the first half (7-of-10 3-pt.) to provide the difference.

Junior forward Bobby Ahearn led BU with 17 points - 12 in the second half. Senior guard Marlon Beck had 15 points (four 3s) and sophomore guard Timmy Rose added 10 points and seven assists. 

The Bearcats struggled to 38 percent from the floor and hit just 2-of-12 from beyond the arc in the opening stanza. 

After playing the conference preseason No. 1 (Vermont) and No. 2 (UNH) in succession, BU will now face No. 3 (Albany) next. The Bearcats travel to Albany for the Thursday night matchup.