VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton men's basketball (12-12, 4-5 America East) held visiting UMass Lowell (15-9, 4-5 AE) 27 points under its season scoring average and notched its third straight win, 66-54, in front of 2,163 fans Thursday at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The win moved the Bearcats into a share of fourth place in the standings with seven games remaining. 

The Bearcats held the high-flying River Hawks to a season-low point total on 30% shooting. It was the second time in eight days that Binghamton has defeated a reigning America East finalist. Last Thursday, the Bearcats toppled Vermont to start the win streak.

Sophomore forward Gavin Walsh extended his own school rebound record with 23 boards - the second-highest single-game total in the NCAA this season (behind Baylor's Omier Norchad, who had 24). Graduate guard Tymu Chenery led a trio of Bearcats in double figures with 18 points - 13 coming in the second half. Senior forward Nehemiah Benson hit 8-of-14 inside for 16 points. Senior point guard Wes Peterson contributed 14 points, a career-high seven assists and two steals and senior guard Chris Walker added 11 points. 

The Bearcats led for nearly 33 minutes but used an 18-2 mid-second-half run to build a comfortable margin. Up 45-39 with 10:16 left, four players scored during the decisive run, which gave Binghamton a 53-41 cushion with 3:39 left. Lowell could draw no closer than eight and the Bearcats made 5-of-6 free throws in the closing 1:42 to end the drama. 

"UMass Lowell has established themselves as a really good team but we came out and defended tonight," head coach Levell Sanders said. "I don't think we played great but we did enough to win. We did a good job of rebounding the basketball. Credit to Gavin (Walsh) and everyone. In the second half, we shared the ball and found the open man. We did a much better job and you can see what happened."

Binghamton led by three at half after both teams struggled to find offensive rhythm. But the Bearcats shot 57% in the second half and put 42 points on the board. 

The Bearcats close out their two-game homestand with a Saturday afternoon test against first-place Bryant (14-10, 8-1 AE). 

NOTES
Binghamton raised its home record to 7-2 ... Walsh lifted his conference-leading rebound average to 10.9. It was his sixth game with 15 or more boards. In his last four games, he's averaging 16.7 rebounds ... Walsh is expected to be among the NCAA top-5 in defensive rebounds and rebound average when the updated statistics are released Friday.