VESTAL, N.Y. - Back home after a nine-day, four-game road trip, Binghamton men's basketball (2-4) looks to continue its momentum when its hosts regional foe Hartwick (1-2) at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Events Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3.
The Bearcats' six-games-in-13-days season-opening run concluded with a third-place finish at the Cancun Challenge, which wrapped up on Wednesday at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. There, BU shook off an opening-round loss to Montana State with a 70-65 victory over Cal State Northridge. In the game, Binghamton dug out of a double-digit hole and scored 44 second-half points. Junior guard
J.C. Show scored 12 of his team-high 17 points in the second half, junior center
Thomas Bruce earned his third double-double of the season and classmate
Timmy Rose chipped in two clutch late three-pointers and nine second-half points.
Bruce was selected to the all-tournament team after finishing with 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. He ranks No. 2 in the nation in blocks and averaged 4.0 rejections in the four-game event, which began with games at George Mason and Evansville.
Beginning Sunday, BU plays three of the next four games at home.
Hartwick plays out of the NCAA Division III Empire 8 Conference and this game will count as an exhibition game for them. The Hawks have three local standouts on their roster: Jake Sinicki (Maine-Endwell), Patrick Garey (Johnson City) and Austin Haskell (Susquehanna Valley).
They return two starters from 16-9 team that went 9-7 in conference play, good for a share of fourth place. The team is veraging 87 points but giving up 92 points through first three games of 2017-18. In its last contest, Freshman Kevin Townes and senior Corey Baker combined for 49 points and the Hawks put 53 points on the board in the first half en route to a 97-85 road win over Bard on Tuesday.
The program advanced to NCAA tournament in 2016 (19-9 record, E-8 champs).
In the all-time series, which dates back to BU's first varsity season in 1946-47, Hartwick holds a commanding 36-9 lead, with all but one game taking place when both programs were in NCAA Division III. Binghamton won the final Division III matchup, 71-61 on Jan. 4, 1997. The Bearcats won the most recent game, 82-51 on Nov. 19, 2014.
