VESTAL, N.Y. – Visiting NJIT (6-10, 1-0 America East) used a 19-5 run to grab the lead midway through the second half and the Highlanders held off Binghamton men's basketball (4-12, 0-1 AE) 73-65 in the conference opener for both teams Saturday afternoon at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center.
The shorthanded Bearcats led by three at half and outshot NJIT for the game. But playing without the conference rebound leader
Demetrius Lilley (injured), Bing was minus-11 on the glass and was held to just 20 points on six field goals in the deciding second half.
The Bearcats led for most of the first half and took a 37-34 lead into break. Binghamton then led 48-44 with 12:42 left before the Highlanders used the big run to build a 10-point cushion, 63-53, with 5:04 remaining. The Bearcats trimmed the margin to six twice in the final three minutes but couldn't draw closer.
With just eight scholarship players available, Binghamton had two starters foul out, including junior point guard
Jeremiah Quigley, who was limited to a season-low 22 minutes (4 in second half) but still handed out five assists. Quigley leads the America East and ranks 17
th in the country in assists.
"NJIT came in and played a good game," head coach
Levell Sanders said. "We knew rebounding would be super important and we gave up 12 offensive boards and 14 second-chance points. Offensively, we didn't do a good enough job of converting, especially when we had the lead in the first half. Not having Jeremiah (Quigley) on the floor for long stretches in the second half was tough … we missed his playmaking. We have to go back to the drawing board and be ready for a tough Vermont team on Thursday."
Junior guard
Ryan Richardson led the Bearcats with 16 points – 11 in the first half. Junior forward
Bryson Wilson added 15 points.
Binghamton made 13-of-20 shots (65%) and hit 5-of-7 3-pointers in the opening period but numerous misses at the rim kept the Bearcats from pulling away. In the end, Binghamton attempted 15 fewer shots for the game, which continued a trend of Bearcat opponents winning via volume shooting.
Up next is a trek to Burlington and a tough matchup with conference kingpin Vermont.
