STONY BROOK, N.Y. - Seventh-seeded Binghamton men's basketball (10-22) roared out of the gate, built a 24-point lead and held off second-seeded Stony Brook (24-8) 78-72 to advance to the America East semifinals for the first time in 10 years. The Bearcats, winners of four consecutive road games, now head to No. 1 Vermont for a Tuesday night matchup. It's the first time BU has reached the America East semifinals since the 2009 team won the conference championship.  

The No. 7 seed was 2-31 all-time vs. the No. 2 seed in the America East tournament. But the Bearcats seized the lead early, stretched it to as many as 24 points and then hung on in the frantic closing minutes to defeat a heavily-favored Seawolves team that came in with 24 wins and votes in the national Mid-Major Top 25 poll. 

Senior guard J.C. Show steadied BU down the stretch with 11 second-half points (19 for the game) and BU made just enough free throws to fend off the hard-charging hosts. Show drained a pair of 3-pointers in a 2:07 span to give BU a 69-55 lead with 4:43 left. He then made a pair of free throws with 2:22 left to lift the lead back up to double figures, 71-61.

A string of four straight misses from the foul line allowed Stony Brook to bring it back to within three, 72-69, with 0:48 left. But senior guard Everson Davis made 3-of-4 free throws and freshman guard Sam Sessoms added three points in the final 17 seconds to seal the win.

A day after being named the league's Rookie of the Year, Sessoms hit 11-of-24 for a team-high 26 points and he just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.  

Senior forward Caleb Stewart added 16 points and three blocks.

The Bearcats came out strong and used a 13-2 run midway through the first half to grab a double-digit lead. Then after Stony Brook brought it back, BU closed out the half with an 18-4 run to take a 43-25 lead into intermission. Sessoms had 14 of his points in the first half and Stewart netted 13 of his during the opening period. A Sessoms "3" with 16:21 left expanded BU's cushion to 24, 53-29 and silenced a crowd of 3,108 at the Island Federal Arena. 

NOTES
The Bearcats had dropped six straight postseason games, four straight to Stony Brook ... BU nearly matched the much bigger Seawolves on the glass (40-39) and BU' s zone limited Stony Brook to 39 percent shooting (6-of-23 3-point shooting).