There was a decent amount to be encouraged about in the first half of Binghamton’s contest again the Duke Blue Devils in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The trademark skills of the Bearcats — Tiki’ Maybens unshakable handle, D.J. Rivera’s leaping ability, Malik Alvin’s quickness and Reggie Fuller’s ability to defend the interior were advantages even against a Duke team of near world-class athletes. However, the one glaring difference was none other than height and girth. As the old basketball saying goes, you can’t teach size.

The Bearcats’ senior center Jaan Montgomery, who is widely regarded on Binghamton’s campus as the tallest human being alive, stood only about one to two inches taller than Duke forward Lance Thomas, who is a somewhat average sized athletic forward in the ACC, the conference in which Duke competes.

The refs got involved early and made sure Binghamton did not get off to a hot start. On one of the first plays of the game, Duke guard Jon Scheyer drove the lane. As the shot bounced off the rim, the whistle was blown. In the world of basketball officiating, this is called a late whistle — something which is frowned upon greatly.

This questionable bit of officiating was only to be outdone by whistles on subsequent plays for a palming violation in which the Bearcat player in question seemed to have his hand on top of the ball, not below, and another whistle on a play in which the culprit allegedly hacked a Duke player taking a lay-up on the arm. Personally, I was not aware of any wrongdoing.

As the Bearcats attempted to build some momentum after the initial lull, Mayben rattled in a three that played with the emotions of the fans, rattling round and round the rim before finally falling through. Mayben followed the three with a brilliant play in which he outsmarted Duke big forward and probable future NBA draft pick Kyle Singler at halfcourt to steal an errant pass. The steal ultimately led to a putback dunk by Fuller.

Broadus was forced to give players playing time earlier than he is usually comfortable doing so due to Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s player factory off his bench. In my estimation, there was a sub roughly every two minutes of game play for Duke in the first half. “Coach K” can afford to do this because there is essentially no drop off in the team’s effectiveness when he summons one of his minions to spell a player who is currently in the game. This enables Duke to keep up their intensity and give the opposing team hell the way few like the Blue Devils can.

Midway through the second quarter when the game seemed to possibly be getting away from the Bearcats for good, coach Broadus did a somewhat common and generally effective practice: screaming at the referees about whatever pops into his head. It does not matter what he actually says because it is all code for “Give me a tech! I gotta make a statement and pump my team up.”

Credit should be given to the Bearcats for their courage. Nearly all of the Bearcats acted like they have been here before, meaning that they were not intimidated by playing against the best team they have ever played against in the largest venue they have ever played in and with more on the line than ever before in this NCAA tournament game.

Binghamton’s star guard D.J. Rivera had a very below average game by his standards. His final stats, which actually turned out to be somewhat impressive, do not tell the full story. Rivera was not able to get a rhythm until the end of the second half when the game was already in hand for the Blue Devils. On one play in the second half, Rivera slipped on spin move, though he claimed that he got fouled. On the ensuing possession, Rivera completely missed a defensive assignment which led to an easy Duke basket. The game was undoubtedly a learning experience for Rivera, who will need to be one of the team’s leaders next season for his senior campaign.

As Mayben said after the America East Championship game, you cannot talk about what Fuller does in one game. The senior big man has been an absolute rock on the interior for the Bearcats all season, and for that matter, all of last season as well. Fuller got into foul trouble in the game, which was not entirely his fault, and it was clear how big the drop off was when Fuller was not on the court. Rebounds were seemingly unattainable for the Bearcats with Fuller sitting on the sidelines. The irreplaceable senior will be missed greatly next season.

When it is all said and done, the Duke Blue Devils, who have been the top-ranked team in the country multiple times over the years, were just too big and talented for the Bearcats to defeat. However, a loss against Duke does not diminish what this team has accomplished this season. After being voted in the America East pre-season poll to finish fifth in the conference, the Bearcats won both the America East regular season title as well as the Conference Championship. As the only team in the conference to play a team of Duke’s caliber, it should help motivate them this offseason and come back next season stronger than ever as they attempt to repeat.