VESTAL, N.Y. - In the America East opener for both teams, Binghamton men's basketball (5-11, 1-0 AE) shot 50 percent and held visiting New Hampshire (2-12, 0-1 AE) to just nine second-half field goals in a 69-58 win Saturday afternoon at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. 

The Bearcats led throughout the game but used an 18-9 closing run to seal the victory - the team's fourth at home this season. 

Freshman guard Sam Sessoms produced his second-straight 20+ game with 21 points and senior forward Caleb Stewart added 15 points and four steals. Senior forward Chancellor Barnard tied his career-high with 11 rebounds and added eight points and a pair of blocks. 

"It was a great way to get conference play started," head coach Tommy Dempsey said. "I thought the guys did a good job preparing and played really hard defensively."

Binghamton started the game with an 18-6 run and shot a sizzling 63 percent in the first half (12-of-19) but had to settle for a 35-33 lead after UNH kept it close with eight three-pointers. Sessoms had 12 of his points in the opening frame but a 9-0 close by the Wildcats brought them to within two at the break.

Stewart drained a pair of threes to spark a 10-2 BU run to open the second half. The run also featured a three-point play by senior guard Everson Davis, who chipped in eight points and four rebounds for the game.

A three-pointer from UNH leader Josh Hopkins (game-high 23 pts.) brought UNH back to within two, 51-49, with 8:51 left. But senior guard J.C. Show (10 pts.) hit a layup and a three-pointer to spark an 11-3 BU run that pushed the lead back up to double digits. Binghamton made seven free throws in the final 5:34 to ice it.

The Bearcats' 2-3 zone limited UNH to 33 percent shooting in the second half and BU also won the battle on the glass (+6), giving up only four offensive boards. 

Binghamton next travels to Long Island for a Wednesday night matchup at Stony Brook.  

NOTES
Show (993 pts.) moved to within seven points of the 1,000-point mark for his collegiate career.