DURHAM, N.H. – No. 4 New Hampshire (16-14) used a 10-0 early-second-half run to take the lead, limited No. 5 Binghamton men's basketball (15-15) to nine second-half field goals and defeated the Bearcats 77-64 in an America East quarterfinal game Saturday afternoon at Lundholm Gym.
Binghamton was within six points until the closing three minutes but could never fully make up the stagger and saw its bid for a third straight America East semifinal appearance end. The Bearcats were hampered by 15 turnovers, 29% shooting from behind the arc and nine missed free throws, including eight charity stripe misses in the decisive second half.
"Congratulations to UNH ... they played their game, they pushed in transition, caused a bunch of turnovers and didn't allow us to play our game," head coach
Levell Sanders said. "We were fighting an uphill battle in the second half."
Senior guard
Tymu Chenery led BU with 18 points and six rebounds in 40 minutes. The Bearcats also had a trio of 10-point scorers in graduate players
Armon Harried and
Dan Petcash and senior center
Tariq Balogun.
Binghamton led 34-32 and pushed its lead to four, 38-34 early in the second half before UNH began its climb. The Bearcats misfired on 7-of-8 to start the half and the ensuing 10-0 Wildcats' run turned the tide. Several times BU got its deficit down to six but could draw no closer.
After giving up five UNH 3-pointers in the game's first 8+ minutes and turning it over seven times, BU finished the first half strong. Down 31-23 with 4:27 left, BU closed with an 11-1 run to grab a 34-32 edge. Chenery had nine points and Balogun had four of his six points during that stretch run. The Bearcats shot 62 percent from the floor and were plus 6 on the glass.
NOTES
It was BU's first quarterfinal loss since 2017, snapping a string of three straight wins in the quarterfinals ... the defeat also snapped a three-game win streak ... Binghamton will still receive consideration for a national postseason tournament berth, likely in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).
