If you haven’t heard by now, I’d like to extend an invitation for you to journey outside the rock you reside under: Binghamton University’s men’s basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament. That’s right, you can choose Binghamton on your bracket this year!

As I’m sure you have also heard (or as common sense should tell you), this is the first time in school history that the basketball team has won the America East Conference tournament, and therefore the first time it has qualified for the “Big Dance.” The only non-conference championship teams that get to tango are generally from high-major conferences — not the America East.

There was no earthquake in Binghamton on Saturday, nor did you develop a case of tinnitus over the weekend. The rumbling ground and the noise that permeated campus Saturday afternoon was caused by the fans that packed the Events Center like sardines in a can for the America East championship game between the Bearcats and the defending champs, the UMBC Retrievers.

Here is just a taste of what went down in the stands: Baxter the Bearcat went crowd surfing on multiple occasions. UMBC fans drew a picture of Bert from Sesame Street, who has one long eyebrow that spans nearly his entire forehead, to mock Emanuel “Tiki” Mayben’s eyebrows. A freshman fully transformed himself into an Oompa Loompa.

“I was just trying to get under [UMBC point guard and second team All-Conference player] Jay Greene’s skin,” said Lil’ Pagoda, the Oompa Loompa. “Obviously, it worked.”

The first half was surprisingly easy on the eyes, given the Bearcats’ propensity for opening games without much intensity or focus, the fact that the Bearcats had never before played in the championship game and the incredible amount of hype surrounding the event. The green and white jerseys were blurs on the court as they darted from end line to end line. The home team was able to keep the tempo at the breakneck pace in which they thrive for nearly the entire first half.

Defensively, Binghamton was able to throw speedy junior guard Malik Alvin and the slower but lankier 6-foot-3-inch swingman Moussa Camara at Greene, who Alvin has said is one of the fastest guys he has ever played against. Greene was noticeably exhausted and somewhat shaken by the end of the half.

Binghamton was able to turn the Retrievers over 12 times in the first half, which is astonishing considering UMBC’s conference-best season average of 9.6 turnovers per contest.

The lone area in which the Retrievers outplayed the Bearcats in the first half was on the boards. UMBC collected four offensive rebounds in the first four minutes of the 20-minute half. The Bearcats were jumping too early on many of the rebounds. Due to the Bearcats’ lack of size, they need to get impeccable rebounding position and time their jumps just right to grab a board, especially against a big team like UMBC.

A 3-pointer by Mayben that splashed the net and put the Bearcats up 36-27 was a fitting way to end the first half — a pretty play which led to a Bearcats basket. However, in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but remember the first contest between the two teams this season, when the Bearcats led by nine at the half after putting on a shooting clinic, and eventually dropped the game at UMBC.

After a promising start to the second half in which the Bearcats still had the pedal to the metal, a few questionable calls by the officials and a seemingly tougher UMBC team forced the tempo to slow. It is generally hard to keep momentum and push the pace when there are whistles on every play and your opponent is taking its time on offense.

Binghamton also seemed content on slowing the game down starting at the 12-minute mark of the second half when they were leading the Retrievers by 11 points, which could have been a disastrous mistake. The Bearcats have proved all year that they are a completely different (and better) team when they are running and gunning, as opposed to running the shot clock to single digits on each possession. The Bearcats didn’t score a single field goal in the last eight minutes and 16 seconds of the game, while the Retrievers were chipping away at the lead.

UMBC pulled within six when the game clock read 4:49, though these would be their last points of the game. Binghamton was finally able to start putting some points of its own on the board again, most of which came at the charity stripe, and got UMBC’s offense and hopes of winning the conference title in a stranglehold.

As the clock ticked down from 21.1 seconds, the Retrievers began to exit the court. All the while, the student section was preparing for its third post-game court-rushing of the season. With 1.5 seconds remaining on the clock, the student section started leaking out onto the court, which eventually turned into a sea of white and green.

The win seemed to mean the world to the team.

As Binghamton head coach Kevin Broadus was asked to wrap up his post-game press conference, he commented, “What’s the rush? Let’s just enjoy the moment.”