VESTAL, N.Y. - Sixty-eight years after beginning their men's basketball rivalry, Binghamton (9-10, 0-4 America East) and Albany (10-9, 1-3 AE) will meet to play the first of the annual two-game set Thursday night at SEFCU Arena. Tip is 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

The Bearcats are looking to regain the momentum they gained after a five-win November and four-win December. Binghamton has dropped the first four games in America East play, though the schedule-makers did them no favors with successive games against the widely-accepted top three teams in the conference (Vermont, UNH and now Albany). 

On Saturday, BU nearly rallied from a 20-point halftime hole at New Hampshire but ultimately the slow start was costly in a 73-66 loss to the Wildcats. Junior forward Bobby Ahearn tallied 17 points and eight rebounds, senior guard Marlon Beck had 15 points on four three-pointers and sophomore guard Timmy Rose added 10 points and seven assists.

The Great Danes, meanwhile, snapped a three-game losing streak with a commanding 77-50 win at UMBC on Monday. Albany led by 12 at half and then limited the Retrievers to just six second-half field goals. The team opened its season with a road win at Penn State.  

QUICK HITS
•    This is Binghamton's 70th season of basketball, 16th at the Division I level
•    The rivalry with fellow SUNY center Albany dates back to 1948, the oldest on BU's schedule. The teams have squared off as Division III, II and now Division I members in the America East.
•    Bearcats rank second in the America East and 115th in the nation (out of 351) in assists (266). They also are 76th in made 3s (155) and 83rd in 3-pt. FG% (.373). 
•    BU ranks second in the country (kenpom.com) in bench minutes (behind Michigan State). Eleven BU players are averaging 10+ minutes
•    Bearcats are averaging 71.1 ppg. on offense, nearly 11 points higher than their 2015-16 average (60.9)
•    Senior Marlon Beck (954 pts.) and junior Willie Rodriguez (952 pts.) continue their climb toward the 1,000-point plateau. They rank third and fourth, respectively,  on BU's all-time scoring list (D-I). 
•    BU has been hit by injuries of late. Veteran guard Yosef Yacob (18 min./game) has been limited to six total minutes over the last five games. Junior wing Justin McFadden (65 career games) has missed six of the last eight games and is now officially out for the season. Leading scorer J.C. Show (13.3 ppg.) was also lost for the season after 12 games with an injury. 

Last time out
•    BU trailed by double digit five minutes into the game, trailed by 20 at the half and couldn't rally in the closing minutes, falling 73-66 at UNH on Saturday
•    Bearcats shot 56 percent in second half and brought a 19-point deficit down to five in the final 5:39 but UNH made four FT in final 3 min to seal the win
•    Junior forward Bobby Ahearn scored a team-high 17 points with eight boards
•    Senior guard Marlon Beck added 15 points on four three-pointers    

About Albany
•    The preseason No. 3 pick snapped a rare three-game AE losing streak with a 77-50 blowout of host UMBC on Monday
•    UA returned two starters and seven lettermen from a 24-9 team that lost in the AE quarters but was selected to the CBI postseason tournament
•    Team quickly reloaded with three JUCO transfers
•    Program has won five AE titles in the last 11 years    

All-time series vs. Albany
•    Albany leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1948, 67-31
•    Since both teams elevated to D-I in the America East, Albany leads 18-13
•    The series has featured three distinct periods. Binghamton dominated when both programs began in D-I, winning eight of the first nine games, including an AE quarterfinal game in Vestal in 2005. Over the next five years, the teams split the series, going 5-5 between 2005-2010. Since 2011, Albany has rattled off 12 straight wins. 

Rose raising his assist-to-turnover ratio
Sophomore guard Timmy Rose has moved into the conference elite in assists (5th, 3.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (5th, 2.42). His ratio ranks 61st in the country. Rose has gone without a turnover twice in the last three games and has a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio in that span. 

Beck and Rodriguez closing in on 1,000-point milestone    
Senior guard Marlon Beck (954 pts.) and junior forward Willie Rodriguez (952 pts.) are within striking range of the 1,000-point plateau. There have been 18 players to reach the 1,000-point club in BU's 69-year basketball history. Just two four-year Division I players (Troy Hailey and Mike Gordon) have reached the plateau. The last time two BU teammates reached the 1,000-point mark in the same season was Jeffrey St. Fort and Mike Wright during the 2001-02 season. St. Fort is also the last Binghamton player to reach the mark in three years.

Division I-II era 1,000-point scorers
Jeffrey St. Fort (1999-03)    1,335 pts.
Mike Wright (1998-02)    1,127
Troy Hailey (2003-07)    1,042
Mike Gordon (2004-08)    1,023
All-time scoring leader: Chris Jackey (1986-90), 1,721 pts.

Bearcats have made meteoric rise in offensive statistics
Binghamton currently ranks 83rd in the nation (out of 351) in three-point percentage (.373), 76th in made threes (155) and 115th in assists (266). Last season, the Bearcats ranked 325th in assists and 315th in three-pointers. The team's current scoring output of 71.1 is nearly 11 points higher than the 2015-16 average (60.9). Three times this season BU has shot above 60 percent for an entire game and seven times the Bearcats have shot 60 percent or higher for a half, including a program record 73 percent (16-of-22) in the first half against Loyola on Dec. 10. In that game, BU made its first nine shots of the game — another school record. 

BU bench and depth paying dividends
Binghamton has 11 players averaging 10+ minutes in 2016-17 and their bench minutes rank second in the nation (kenpom). The bench has outscored opposing benches in 14 of 19 games. Seven times BU's bench has contributed 30 or more points. Coach Dempsey has used 11 different starting lineups this season.

Rodriguez back in form
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez has rounded into form after an early-season hamstring injury limited him to nine minutes in the team's first 10 games. He has hit double figures in six of his last eight games and has lifted his averages to team-bests of 12.2 points and 5.6 rebounds. 

The "3" ball is best indicator of BU success
Through 17 games, BU is 9-2 when outshooting opponents from three-point range (3-pt FG%) and 0-8 when not. 

Yacob dialed in from beyond arc
Redshirt junior guard Yosef Yacob is shooting 58 percent (18-of-31) from three-point range this season. His average would be top-10 in the nation but Yacob currently falls short of the minumum makes requirement (2.5/game).

Ahearn automatic in post
Inside the arc, junior forward Bobby Ahearn is finishing at a gaudy 68 percent clip — one of the highest two-point percentages in the nation. Through 19 games, Ahearn is shooting 59 percent overall, which would rank second in the America East (but he falls short of the 4.0 min FG made/game).