VESTAL, N.Y. - After three straight road games to open the season, Binghamton men's basketball (0-3) welcomes Sacred Heart (0-2) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Dr. Bai Lee Court. The game is the second-half of a basketball doubleheader that begins with a women's game at 2 p.m. In-between games, the athletics department will honor Calistus Anyichie, rising sophomore who passed away in July.

It will be the third game in seven days for the Bearcats, who lost 75-63 at Columbia on Wednesday after battling then-No. 1 Michigan State Sunday in East Lansing. At Columbia, sophomore Sam Sessoms scored a game-high 23 points and freshman forward George Tinsley added his first collegiate double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Brenton Mills added 11 points and eight boards. 

Sessoms' performance gave him 20 or more points for the 13th time in his young career. He now leads the team in scoring (13.7 ppg.). Senior guard Richard Caldwell, Jr. is scoring 10.3 points per game. Tinsley is the team's top rebounder with 7.0 boards per game. 

Sacred Heart has dropped its first two games but they came against formidable foes Providence (106-60) and UConn (89-67). The Pioneers return four starters and 11 lettermen from a 15-17 team of a year ago. That squad went 11-7 in the NEC and placed third. Sacred Heart received three first-place votes and was picked to finish second in the NEC Preseason Poll, just behind LIU.   

Second team all-conference selection E.J. Anosike averaged 14.3 points and 8.1 rebounds last season. Anosike is averaging 16.0 points and 7.0 rebounds through the team's first two games this season. Senior forward Kinnon LaRose is averaging 13.0 points and 6-foot-10 senior center Jare'l Spellman (9.0 ppg., 11.5 rpg.) has been a force inside.

Binghamton leads the all-time series between the two programs 3-1. They played twice when each was a member of the Division II New England Collegiate Conference (in 1998 and 1999) and have played each of the last two seasons as Division I programs. Binghamton won 51-48 two years ago in Fairfield and again last season, 78-73 last November at the Events Center. In that game, Sessoms scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. Binghamton put four players in double figures and shot 59 percent in the decisive second half (46 pts.) to offset a 35-point performance from Sacred Heart guard Sean Hoehn (since graduated). With the exception of Hoehn, BU shut down the Pioneers, limiting them to 14-of-55 shooting (25%).