VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball begins a stretch of three straight home games when the Bearcats (3-3) host Loyola Maryland (3-4) Wednesday night. The teams meet for the first time in three years at 6 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The game will be broadcast on EPSN+.

Senior guard Jacob Falko leads the team with a 14.3 scoring average. Falko has scored 20 or more points in two straight games and is shooting 49 percent from the field. 

Junior guard John McGriff and graduate forward Miles Gibson are also averaging in double figures with 10.3 points apiece.  

QUICK HITS
• This is Binghamton's 77th season of basketball, 22nd in D-I and the America East
• The Bearcats were picked to finish fourth of nine in the AE Coaches' Preseason Poll — tied for the highest in the program's 22 years of conference membership
• Today is the first of three straight home games in an eight-day span
• BU returns four starters but only 61% of scoring and 63% of minutes (8 departures)
• BU has the third-oldest roster in the country with an average age of 22.0 years

About Binghamton
• Coming off a narrow 65-62 loss at A-10 host La Salle on Saturday in a game that wasn't decided until a BU buzzer 3-bid was off the mark
• Shot 50% in second half, outscored La Salle by six and led by four with five minutes left before the Explorers closed with an 11-4 run
• Jacob Falko led all scorers with 20 points — his second straight 20+ point game
• Tariq Balogun added 16 points (8-11 FT) — one off his career high
• Christian Hinckson had 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds
• Team was hampered by 21 turnovers, which led to La Salle taking 13 more shots
• Won battle in paint with +6 rebound margin and +2 points-in-paint margin

About Loyola
• Coming off two-game Florida swing where they split games on Friday and Saturday in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville
• Beat Louisiana Monroe 65-64 on a floater with six seconds left after squandering a double-digit second-half cushion
• Have wins over Brown and D-III Washington College
• Three losses came vs. noted foes Clemson, DePaul and Penn State
• Return four starters and 13 lettermen from 14-16 team (8-10 in PL)
• Picked to finish sixth of 10 in the PL Preseason Poll
 
All-time series vs. Loyola
• Loyola leads 5-1 and has won the last two
• Teams haven't met in three years
• Road team has won three of the last four
• Last meeting was Dec. 1, 2019 in Baltimore — a 77-65 Loyola win
• This is the first of two BU games against Patriot League members
• BU is 10-32 all-time against the Patriot League
     
A win over Loyola would ...
• Snap a two-game Loyola win streak in the head-to-head series
• Give BU its fourth win in November and a winning record in the month for the first time in three years
• Continue a pattern of L-W-L-W in the last four games

Falko named BU Athlete of the Week
Senior guard Jacob Falko was selected as BU's Miller Auto Team Student-Athlete of the Week after averaging 22.0 points in a 1-1 week for the Bearcats. Falko scored 24 points, including a key 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left that sparked a late comeback win against Columbia. Falko then added 20 points at La Salle. In the two games, he shot 53% from the field, hit 6-of-12 3-pointers and added 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists.  

Bearcats getting familiar with close games
Three of BU's first five games (against Division I opponents) this season have been decided by three or fewer points and the Bearcats are 2-1 in those games. Binghamton played just four games all last season that were decided by that narrow margin and were 1-3 with the one win coming in the America East tournament (72-69 over UNH).  

70 remains tipping "point"
The 70-point scoring mark remains a key indicator for Binghamton's success. Early this season, BU is 3-0 when they score 70 and 0-3 when they fall short. Last season, BU was 8-2 when they reached 70 points and 3-15 when they came in under 70.  

Turnovers taking toll
The Bearcats' Achilles' heel early on has been turnovers. BU is averaging nearly 15 per game and has lost the turnover battle in four of their five games (D-I foes). In the 65-62 loss to La Salle on Nov. 26, BU turned it over 21 times, which led to La Salle taking 13 more shots.  

Six points in six seconds
Binghamton literally stole a win from Columbia in a pre-Thanksgiving matinee on Nov. 23 by scoring six points in the final six seconds. Down 79-75 with 12 seconds left, BU raced up the floor and Jacob Falko drained a 23-foot 3-pointer with 5.6 left to bring the Bearcats to within one, 79-78. On the ensuing inbounds, John McGriff swatted away a bounce pass near the corner, stepped back and hit an off-balance 3-pointer in front of the BU bench with 1.3 seconds left to make it 81-79. A long Lions heave at the buzzer banked off the backboard. The play made ESPN's SportsCenter and has drawn more than 320K views online.