VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball (11-11, 2-5 America East) will be in search of the team's third straight win when the Bearcats face host Maine (5-17, 1-6 AE) at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Binghamton has reached the .500 mark with back-to-back wins over reigning conference champion Stony Brook and Hartford. The Bearcats can gain some separation in the standings with a win against a Black Bears team that has dropped four straight but has been idle and rested for a week.  

QUICK HITS
•    This is Binghamton's 70th season of basketball, 16th at the Division I level
•    BU ranks fourth in the country (kenpom.com) in bench minutes. Eleven BU players are averaging 12+ minutes and nobody is averaging more than 26 min./game
•    Bearcats are averaging 71.0 ppg. on offense, more than 10 points higher than their 2015-16 average (60.9)
•    Junior Willie Rodriguez (992 pts.) and senior Marlon Beck (985 pts.) are closing in on the 1,000-point plateau. Rodriguez needs eight points to reach the mark and Beck needs 15. They could be the first BU teammates to reach the milestone in the same game.    

Last time out
•    BU opened the second half with a 27-8 run and never looked back in rolling over visiting Hartford 76-55 Wednesday night at the Events Center. 
•    Senior guard Marlon Beck scored 12 of his team-high 15 points in the second half, when BU shook off a three-point halftime deficit and took control.
•    Sophomore guard Timmy Rose handed out nine assists with eight points.
•    Sophomore center Thomas Bruce ripped down a career-high 16 rebounds and added three dunks en route to eight points. 

Beck and Rodriguez closing in on 1,000-point milestone    
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez (992 pts.) and senior guard Marlon Beck (985 pts.) are on the cusp of reaching 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.
     
About Maine
•    The Black Bears have lost 11 of their last 12 games
•    In its most recent game on Jan. 22, Maine lost at Albany 81-63
•    The team's lone AE win was 73-71 over visiting UMass Lowell on Jan. 11
•    Maine is young with three underclassmen starters, including two freshmen
•    The team went 8-22 last season and was picked last in the preseason poll
•    They average 22 three-point attempts per game and rank last in the AE in scoring (67.5 ppg.) and field goal percentage defense (47.2%)     

All-time series vs. Maine
•    The series is even at 16-16 though Maine has won 10 of the last 14 games
•    The teams have split the last two season series' with the home team winning all four games
•    In the all-time series, which dates back to 2002, the home team is 21-10
•    Last season Maine won 74-63 in Bangor, using a game-ending 20-6 run. One month later, BU returned the favor at the Events Center with a 78-66 win.
  
Bruce Almighty
Sophomore center Thomas Bruce had a big game against Hartford on Wednesday, pulling down a career-high 16 points and electrifying the crowd with three dunks. Bruce had 11 boards in the second half alone, and came up just one bucket shy of a double-double. He leads the team in rebounding and also ranks fourth in the America East in blocks (0.9). 

Beck stepping up scoring
Senior guard Marlon Beck is picking up his pace as he nears the 1,000-point mark (985 pts.). In his last eight games, Beck is averaging 11.9 points and has made more than three threes per game. After reaching double figures just once in his first 14 games, Beck has posted double-digit points in seven of his last eight games and is shooting 45% from beyond the arc during that span. Already the all-time three-point leader, Beck will hit the 200 mark with his next trey.

Rose raising his assist-to-turnover ratio
Sophomore guard Timmy Rose has moved among the conference leaders in assists (5th, 4.1) and assist-to-turnover ratio (6th, 2.4). His ratio ranks 61st in the country. 

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 seven of his last nine games, including 20+ point showings three times.