VESTAL, N.Y. - Senior forward Nehemiah Benson scored a game-high 22 points and Binghamton men's basketball built a 16-point halftime lead and held off Queens College 83-70 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. 

The Bearcats trailed 22-19 with 8:33 left in the first half before using a 15-0 run to grab a lead they would not relinquish. Buoyed by the run, Binghamton outscored Queens 24-5 to end the half and take a 43-27 bulge into break. Early in the second half, the Bearcats extended their margin to 18 points before the Division II Knights began to chip away, thanks to six second-half 3-pointers. 

Queens twice trimmed the deficit to five points inside the final six minutes before the Bearcats shut the door with a 9-0 run that featured points from four different players. 

Benson hit 9-of-12 shots and grabbed six rebounds in his 28 minutes. Senior guard Chris Walker scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half and added eight rebounds, five assists and was a team-best plus-24 in his 34 minutes. Sophomore forward Gavin Walsh produced a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds and graduate forward Ben Callahan-Gold added 15 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting night from 3-point range. Sophomore point guard Jayden Lemond handed out a team-high seven assists in his first outing as a Bearcat. 

"I'm happy we had a game like this," head coach Levell Sanders said. "It was good for us to face adversity and have to execute and get stops down the stretch. It will help us going forward. Queens played a really good game. We want to play fast, get the ball up the court and score and quickly as possible. We want that to be our identity but we are a work in progress, as most teams are this time of year. This kind of game will pay off for us down the line."

Binghamton shot 56 percent from the floor and made 24-of-34 from the line (71%). 

The Bearcats open their season Monday night at Penn State.