SPORTS


Eamon Siggins/Photo Editor

Men's basketball drives to first in AE
By Arthur Sherman
Staff Writer

Even though the season is only four games young, the Binghamton University men's basketball team is beginning to be a team that can both defend their home court and compete on the road. BU went 2-1 this past week with a home-win against Columbia University and they split their road games with a win at LIU-Brooklyn and a loss at Dartmouth College.

The Bearcats' first game of this stretch came last Tuesday when they opened the West Gym doors to Columbia. After Columbia jumped out to a 5-0 lead, Binghamton went on a 15-0 run that lasted eight minutes of the first half. BU took their first lead four minutes and 54 seconds into the contest and never looked back from there.

During the run, the visiting Lions missed all eight shots they attempted, while committing four turnovers. Columbia continued to struggle after the Binghamton run, scoring only ten points over the final 18:12 in the first frame.

By the end of the first half, the home squad had built a comfortable 20-point lead at 35-15. The Bearcats defense led the team in the opening period, holding the Lions to a mere 17.6 percent shooting from the field.

"They're (Binghamton) a very good defensive team," said Columbia head coach Armond Hill. "I'll give them credit."

Senior guard Anthony Green supplied BU with 13 of his game-high 20 points in the first half. He also added five rebounds, four assists and tied a career high with three steals.

"I've got teammates that look for me to score," said Green. "To take some pressure off me they have to hit shots in order for me to get assists. For me to get rebounds, because I'm not a big guy, they have to block out and I usually just pick the ball up. So most of my stats go to my team."

Columbia came out strong in the second half and after the Bearcats extended their lead to 40-15, the Lions made a run of their own. The blue and white cut the lead to 15 with a 10-0 run, but they would not get any closer.

"I said 'that's their run', let's get better'," said Binghamton head coach Al Walker. "They had to make a run cause that's the nature of the beast. I just thought that we had one of those really good defensive stretches in us that we just hadn't put on the floor yet for the second half."

BU answered with a 17-0 run that took only three minutes and 16 seconds. The sequence began with an odd scenario. Green hit one of two free throws and Binghamton got the ball back for a three-point basket by senior forward Stanley Ocitti.

As the basket fell, the referee called a simultaneous foul that most people figured would send Ocitti to the line for a potential four-point play. Inside a foul away from the play sent freshman forward Sebastian Hermenier to the line for a one-and-one free throw try.

Hermenier made the first but missed the second, and once again Binghamton grabbed the rebound and found Ocitti for his second basket from beyond the arc in less than 20 seconds.

"During half time coach challenged us to be more offensive-minded and just come out stronger," Ocitti said. "Just try to blow the team out [and] try not to let them back in the game. I knew that I'd only taken one shot in the first half, so I came out more offensive-minded."

In only 35 seconds, BU scored eight points without Columbia even touching the ball. This play seemed to demoralize the Columbia effort, and they would not make another offensive push the rest of the game. The game ended with a blowout score of 70-42.

Without their only returning starter, the Lions could not match any of Binghamton's offensive weapons in the game. Senior Chris Wiedemann suffered a dislocated toe in the season opener and his absence left a large void on the offensive score sheet. No Columbia player reached double digits with forward Marco McCottry leading the way with eight points and nine rebounds.

The Bearcats pride themselves on team defense and rebounding, which they certainly lived up to in this contest. The 42 points allowed were the lowest opponent's total since Binghamton joined the Division I ranks. BU dominated in rebounding as well, finishing 37-25..

"I grade the team on three things," said senior guard Charles Baker. "Our three strengths. How we defend, how we rebound and how we run. I think tonight we did an excellent job of all three. Those are out strengths and that's all we can ask."

Before this contest, Binghamton University honored former BU and Broome Community College head basketball coach Dick Baldwin. Baldwin guided Binghamton to a 9-0 start in the 93-94 and the win at LIU they matched the first 3-0 start to a season since that 93-94 campaign.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Binghamton traveled down to New York City for a date with LIU in their gymnasium created from a renovated theater.

As they had in their previous two regular season contests, the Bearcats got off to a slow start and allowed their opponent to grab an early lead. In a game that lacked offense early, the host Blackbirds took a 6-2 advantage in just over four minutes. That small lead would be taken away by BU and they went on a run that gave them control of the game.

Binghamton outscored LIU 16-3 over roughly a four-minute stretch that grew the lead to as high as nine. Unlike their previous two opponents, the Blackbirds would not allow BU to separate the score too much. As the end of the half closed in LIU got to as close as four and the Bearcats entered the locker room with a seven-point cushion.

The Blackbirds were four of nine from three-point range in the opening frame, led by forward JaJa Bey. He scored 12 of his 20 points in the first half and was 2-4 from beyond the arc, but both he and the team went cold from three-point range in the second half. LIU missed all 11 of their attempts.

Senior forward Jeffrey St. Fort and junior guard Brandon Carter each had 10 points in the first 20 minutes. Carter went a perfect five for five shooting en route to his 10 first half points.

BU came out firing in the second half and they opened with a 16-8 run. With the score at 57-42, LIU head coach Jim Ferry called a timeout as they lead had grown to a game-high 15 points. The moved seemed to inspire the Blackbirds as they responded by holding Binghamton to only five points over nearly 10 minutes of play.

With only 5:13 remaining in the contest, Binghamton's lead was down to two at 62-60. The teams then traded scores over the next four possessions and that string ended with sophomore center Nick Billings tapping in a rebound to give BU a 66-62 advantage. LIU never had a chance to tie the game after that score. Billings posted his second double figure scoring game of the season with 11 points, adding 7 boards and 2 blocks.

"We didn't play that great overall," said Billings. "But we stuck through it. We made plays down the stretch, everybody contributed - it was good."

Down by five with only 44 seconds left, LIU's pre-season all conference guard Antawn Dobie was stripped of the ball by Binghamton's sophomore guard Billy Williams. That play sealed the Blackbirds fate and BU hit their free throws to hang on for a 75-66 victory.

"We were able to go on some runs when our second group was in and their group tired," said coach Walker. "And I just think the greatest part of that game was LIU closing the gap from 13 to 2 and Jeffrey St. Fort made plays at the high post. We made plays on the offensive and defensive end to win the game and that's what counts."

The win was keyed by impressive efforts from two of the Bearcats seniors. St. Fort matched his first-half 10 points with 10 more in the final period to give him a season high of 20.

"Jeffrey St. Fort had his best game of the season," said Walker.

Fellow senior Charles Baker put in a gutsy performance by playing the end of the game with four fouls. Despite his foul trouble, his presence was a large part of the victory, especially because he spent the majority of the game guarding Dobie of LIU.

"He does everything that doesn't show up in the scorebook," said Walker. "That's the bottom line. Charles Baker has the heart of a lion, it's just great to have him. The defense starts with him, the offense starts with him. He just plays at a very high level."

Baker is eager to take his role on this team to an even higher level.

"You always have to have a floor general on every successful team," said Baker. "I'm doing a good job right now, but I think that with a little more time I'm going to be a great floor general for this team."

The victory marked the 500th in Binghamton's history.

Carrying the momentum of their hot start, the Bearcats traveled to Dartmouth, but only to run into a team that refused to lose. BU played tough, but in the end they did not have enough and they suffered the season's first loss 67-61.

The game was very even and both teams were going back and forth with the lead. Anthony Green hit a three-pointer to give the Bearcats a 25-24 advantage with just over seven minutes remaining in the opening half, but the team would only score two more points in the rest of the period.

Down by a score of 33-27, Binghamton opened the second half trying to chip away at the deficit. Stanley Ocitti brought his team to within one score when he hit a jumper to cut Dartmouth's lead to 40-38.

On their home court, the Big Green would not be denied and they answered Ocitti's basket with three straight shots from beyond the arc. The three-point shooting of Dartmouth proved to be a key to the game as they went 7-9 in the second half and finished 52.4 percent from downtown. Overall the Big Green was 48 percent from the field.

"Dartmouth I thought played as well as they could," Walker said. "We knew going into the game that they had the ability to really shoot the ball. I just take my hat off to Dartmouth they did a good job."

With under two minutes left in regulation, BU tied the game (58-58) for the first time since the score was 16-all. But it wasn't meant to be for Binghamton, as Dartmouth hit another three and sank six of six free throws for the 67-61 win.

"We played hard," said Walker. "I just think it was one of those nights where Dartmouth did everything that they needed to do to win."

Dartmouth's Steve Callahan and Green each totaled a game high 19 points, with Green adding nine rebounds and four assists. Charles Baker had his best offensive game of the season by knocking in 11. Nick Billings only scored four points, but he made up for that with six blocks and a career high four steals. Billings is now averaging a conference high 4.5 blocks per contest.

The Bearcats now head out to Iowa State for the Cyclone challenge where they will meet the University of Denver in the opening round.

"We're getting better everyday," said Walker. "Just need a little bit more consistency. It's been a really good start and now of course we have our toughest stretch. We're in this tournament and then we've got Syracuse and Villanova, this is a whole nother level of play right now."