VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball (12-11, 3-5 America East) looks to continue its hot streak when BU hosts UMBC (14-7, 5-3 AE) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Events Center. It's the beginning of the second half of the America East slate for both teams and the Bearcats are in search of their fourth straight victory.

The ESPN3 game features a Pack the House promotion, assuring that it will be one of the biggest draws of the season thus far. Olums will be giving away 2,000 coupons good for free admission. Fans should visit Olums to pick up their coupons and then present them to the Events Center Box Office.

QUICK HITS
•    This is Binghamton's 70th season of basketball, 16th at the Division I level
•    The Bearcats have climbed over the .500 mark with a three-game win streak (second-longest current streak in the AE behind Vermont's 10)
•    Through 23 games, this is the best record in eight seasons
•    This is the start of the second half of conference play, meaning there are eight games remaining in the regular season
•    BU ranks third 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 70.7 ppg. on offense, nearly 10 points higher than their 2015-16 average (60.9)
•    Senior Marlon Beck (989 pts.) is looking to join junior Willie Rodriguez (1,007 pts.) in BU's 1,000-point club. He needs 11 points to reach the milestone. Rodriguez notched it Sunday at Maine. They will become the first BU teammates in 15 years to reach the mark in the same season.    

Last time out
•    Sophomore guard Timmy Rose scored a career-high 20 points (6-of-8 FG) and BU used a 14-2 run midway through the second half to pull away at Maine 65-54
•    BU made five free throws in the final 2:23 to seal the team's third straight win
•    Junior forward Willie Rodriguez netted 15 points and early in the second half, eclipsed the 1,000-point mark with a jump hook in the lane 
•    The Bearcats held Maine to 4-of-20 shooting from three-point range and 13 points under their season scoring average 

Beck looking to join Rodriguez at 1,000-point milestone    
Junior forward Willie Rodriguez (1,007 pts.) hit the mark early in the second half at Maine and senior guard Marlon Beck (989 pts.) is looking to join him. Rodriguez became the 19th BU player to reach 1,000 points 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 UMBC
•    The third-place Retrievers lead the league in scoring (81.9 ppg.), 3-point FG% (40%) and threes per game (9.8)
•    UMBC has the top scorer in the AE in junior guard Jairus Lyles (20.7 ppg.)
•    Team is coming off an epic 105-103 double OT win over UNH on Saturday. In that game, Lyles scored 28 points and senior guard Will Darley forced a final five minutes with a 24-footer at the first overtime buzzer. 
•    Recently UMBC beat UMass Lowell (102-86) and lost to Stony Brook (83-73)
•    UMBC finished last in 2015-16 and was picked to finish sixth this season        

All-time series vs. UMBC
•    BU leads the all-time series 16-14 and has won four of the last six games
•    UMBC has won two straight, including an 85-71 home win on Jan. 5
•    The home team is 10-4 in the all-time series
•    In the first matchup last month, host UMBC used a 14-0 run midway through the second half to pull away. Binghamton trailed for all but one minute in the game and and despite twice pulling to within four points early in the second half, couldn't fully rally. The Bearcats put four in double figures, led by freshman guard Fard Muhammad, who tied his season high with 16 points. Senior guard Marlon Beck and sophomore guard Timmy Rose added 12 points apiece. 
  
Bruce Almighty
Sophomore center Thomas Bruce had a big game against Hartford last 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 third 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 (989 pts.). In his last nine games, Beck is averaging 11.0 points and has chipped in nearly 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 nine and ranks second in the AE in threes per game (2.8 in AE play). Already the all-time three-point leader, Beck has 200 career threes.

Rose raising his assist-to-turnover ratio but can pump in points as well
Sophomore guard Timmy Rose has moved among the conference leaders in assists (5th, 4.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (7th, 2.3). His ratio ranks 74th in the country. When Rose isn't dishing, he's scoring. After burying a crucial three-pointer to seal BU's win over Stony Brook last Sunday, Rose netted a career-high 20 points to spark the road win at Maine.  

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 nine of his last 12 games, including seven games of 15+ points.