It is Lawrence Brenneman’s eighth year with Binghamton University’s men’s basketball team, but Saturday was his first ever game as head coach. Brenneman was behind the bench for Binghamton’s 49-44 victory over Stony Brook, Saturday on Long Island. Binghamton head coach Kevin Broadus was not with the team, as he was suspended by the school prior to the game.
LB, as Brenneman is called, started as an assistant for two years and then was promoted to associate head coach for the next five seasons until returning back this season as an assistant under Broadus.
“The guys really responded and wanted to win the game for coach,” Brenneman said. “We came out with some good energy on defense and it was one of our best defensive efforts of the year.”
The 44 points the Bearcats surrendered was the second lowest in their Division I era while holding Stony Brook to just 31 percent from the floor.
That defensive effort didn’t kick in, however, until midway through the first half as Binghamton found themselves down 13-4 with 12:15 to go. But the Bearcats forced eight turnovers in the final eight minutes en route to an 18-4 run and a 22-17 lead heading into the break.
While Binghamton pulled out the victory, they struggled on the offensive end shooting just 36 percent for the game including 6-for-23 from behind the arc.
“They are a hard team to play because they switch their zones a lot and can make the game a little bit ugly,” Brenneman said.
The game featured a combined 33 turnovers, with 18 coming from Binghamton, and the teams combined for 10-for-36 from behind the arc.
Richie Forbes led Binghamton with 16 points while Mike Gordon added 15, including a free throw with four seconds left to give Gordon his 1,000 career point. Gordon became the second Bearcat to achieve the feat, joining former teammate Troy Hailey, who finished with 1,041 points.
Ricky Lucas and Tyler Benson both had 10 points for Stony Brook.
And while Binghamton ground out the victory on the court, Brenneman enjoyed his time in charge.
“I did enjoy it from the standpoint that in this business, you always aspire to be a head coach,” Brenneman said. “It was a great experience because there is nothing that can replace being there and doing it yourself, seeing how it feels and the butterflies before the game.”
And Brenneman definitely gets into the game, especially vocally. Brenneman is known on the sidelines for stomping his feet, clapping his hands and yelling out to the players.
“I am a vocal guy on the sidelines and I try to get guys to pay attention to detail,” Brenneman said. “I think you get your style from how you were as a player. You want the game to be played a certain way — the right way.”
So does Brenneman eventually want to be a head coach somewhere?
“Anybody in this business, if they tell you differently, then they’re lying,” Brenneman said. “I think what people don’t understand is there are only 335 of those jobs in the country and they are hard to come by.”
But LB knows that with that kind of power comes more responsibility.
“As a head coach, the biggest challenge at this level is you have to deal with a lot of different aspects, not just the coaching part,” he said.
But it’s that coaching part that Brenneman especially loves.
“I really like being a teacher of the game,” he said.