VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball can gain an important season sweep when the Bearcats (6-18, 2-7 America East) play at New Hampshire (3-19, 1-8 AE) Saturday afternoon in Durham. The teams, separated by one game in the standings, tip at 1 p.m. at Lundholm Gym.

Binghamton has seven games remaining in the regular season and a second win over UNH would give them essentially a three-game cushion in the standings as both teams eye one of the top eight playoff positions.

Freshman guard Sam Sessoms continues to pace BU with 17.7 points per game. Sessoms is sixth in the nation in freshman scoring and ranks 26th in field goals. Senior forward Caleb Stewart has been on a tear with five straight games of double-digit rebounds. Stewart averages 10.9 points and 7.4 rebounds and is coming off his third double-double of the season in the game Wednesday against Stony Brook.

QUICK HITS
• This is Binghamton's 73rd season of basketball, 18th at the Division I level
• BU was picked to finish 6th (of 9) in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll
• This is the 18th America East season for BU, which is 106-170 (.384) all-time
• Binghamton can strengthen its playoff position (top-8) by completing a season sweep of last place UNH. A win would give BU a two-game cushion plus tiebreaker  

Last time out
• BU ran into a finely tuned Stony Brook offense on Wednesday and suffered an 85-59 home loss, despite a combined 31 points from senior forward Caleb Stewart (16 pts.) and freshman guard Sam Sessoms (15).
• Stony Brook was +18 on the glass and hit 13 3-pointers      

About UNH
• Wildcats have dropped seven straight games and have just one win vs. Division I teams this season (UMass Lowell on Jan. 9)
• Coming off 72-62 loss at Lowell on Wednesday with UML's 19 FT the difference
• Team ranks last in AE in scoring (61.3 ppg.) and scoring margin (-9.0 ppg.)
• UNH was picked to finish in a tie for seventh in the America East Preseason Poll 
• Returned two starters and 10 letterwinners from a 10-21 team that went 6-10 in AE play (T-6th) and lost in the tournament quarterfinals
• Took heavy graduation toll and have to replace elite all-conference forward Tanner Leissner, all-time rebound leader Iba Camara and 1,000-point scorer Jacoby Armstrong in frontcourt  
    
All-time series vs. UNH
• UNH leads the close all-time series, which began in 2002, 19-18
• In the first meeting in Vestal on Jan. 5, BU shot 50 percent and held UNH to just nine second-half field goals in a 69-58 win 
•  BU led throughout the game but used an 18-9 closing run to seal the victory
• Freshman guard Sam Sessoms led BU with 21 points
• The Wildcats have won nine of the last 10 to erase a comfortable BU lead head-to-head. UNH swept the season series in each of the last four years
• The season is dead-even at Lundholm Gym (9-9)
 
Bearcats lead America East, rank 7th in nation in blocks
Despite opening the season without the top shot blocker in the America East (Thomas Bruce), BU has racked up 125 blocks through 24 games, tops in the AE and seventh-most in the country. In blocks per game, BU led the country for a week and currently ranks 11th (5.2/game). Individually, senior forward Caleb Stewart swatted a career-high five vs. Columbia and has 46 blocks, which ranks third in the conference and 34th in the country. His 1.9 average is 48th. Senior forward Chancellor Barnard had a career-high seven-block showing (all in second half) against UMass Lowell and has 40 blocks (4th in AE). 

Stewart has string of double-digit rebounds
Senior forward Caleb Stewart, recent member of the 1,000-point club (reached on Jan. 26 in win over Maine), has stretched his string of double-digit rebounds to five. In the last five games, he has pulled down 16-11-10-10-10 to bump up his season average to 7.4, which ranks fifth in the America East. He has tied the program's Division I record of consecutive games with double-figure rebounds, set by Mahamoud Jabbi in 2010-11.  

Sessoms remains sixth in nation in freshman scoring
Freshman guard Sam Sessoms ranks third in the conference in scoring (17.7 ppg.) and is sixth in the entire nation in freshman scoring. He has eight 20+ point games this season. Sessoms ranks 26th in the country in made field goals.  

Anyichie provides boost off bench
Freshman forward Calistus Anyichie came off the bench to produce a season-high 10 points in 29 min. at Albany on Feb. 2. In his longest stint of the season, he hit 4-of-6 from the field and also had seven boards, three steals and a block.  

Sessoms goes off in first half against UMass Lowell, flirts with record
Freshman guard Sam Sessoms hit 8-of-10 shots (4-of-5 3-pt.) in the first half against UMass Lowell on Jan. 23 and wound up with 22 points in 15 minutes of action. He added 10 more in the second half to wind up with 32 points, two shy of tying the school single-game record. His total is the sixth-most by an AE player this season and the highest BU total since teammate J.C. Show went for a school-record-tying 34 points vs. Central Connecticut State on Nov. 11, 2016. His eight first-half field goals were the third-most in a half in program history.