After beating Miami on the road in December and dominating defending conference champion Albany at home earlier this month, it seemed like the Binghamton men’s basketball program was taking a huge step forward. But since then, the Bearcats have had nothing but setbacks.

Now in last place in the America East, Binghamton’s latest stumble came Sunday afternoon at the Events Center in a 65-61 loss to the first-place Vermont Catamounts (13-6, 5-1 AE).

Vermont was playing without leading scorer Joe Trapani (14.7 ppg), who was out with a fractured left foot, and the Bearcats held Mike Trimboli to just nine points and forced the all-conference point guard to commit five turnovers, but they could not take advantage.

“We had a chance, just didn’t win the game,” said head coach Al Walker, whose team has lost five of six games.

Despite jumping to an early 6-0 lead, the Bearcats (9-11, 2-6 AE) trailed by as many as 13 in the first half, but fought back to cut the lead to five at half time. They kept the game close through the second half, tying the score eight times.

Down by four with 1:18 to go in the game, sophomore Lazar Trifunovic, who finished with seven points and six rebounds, went up for a shot in the lane but turned the ball over when he tried to dish it off in mid-air to Duane James.

Junior Richard Forbes partially blocked Kyle Cieplicki’s 3-point shot attempt, but senior Martin Klimes picked up the loose ball and kicked it back out to Cieplicki, who hit the 3 to give Vermont an insurmountable seven-point lead.

“If we can make some stops down the stretch we give ourselves the chance to win, and we just couldn’t make some very crucial stops,” Walker said. “This is a typical game for us.”

Walker shuffled the starting lineup, adding Forbes and Dwayne Jackson, and both contributed. Forbes had a game-high 17 points, while Jackson added a career-high 13 and shot 3-for-5 from long range.

“I had worked hard in practice and coach came to me and he said I was going to start, so I just wanted to step up to the challenge,” Jackson said.

The Bearcats shot 40 percent (23-for-57) from the floor, including 9-for-27 from behind the arc. But Binghamton, which was averaging 19 free throws a game, attempted only seven against the Catamounts; in contrast they sent Vermont to the charity stripe 28 times, leading to 17 Vermont points.

The Bearcats are last in the America East in scoring defense, with teams averaging 70.4 ppg, and last in field goal percentage defense, as teams are shooting 45 percent. Vermont shot 50 percent for the game and 52 percent in the second half as their role players stepped up. Freshman Nick Vier, averaging 2.7 ppg coming into the game, had 12 points, all in the first half. Klimes, who was averaging 4.8 ppg, also had 12 points.

“We seem this year to have a tendency to make role players into stars, which is disappointing,” Walker said.

But what the Bearcats need is their own role players to turn into stars. Senior Troy Hailey, averaging 9.5 ppg, picked up two quick fouls in the first half and saw just two minutes of action (none in the second half), and finished with zero points on no shot attempts. Senior guard Steve Proctor, averaging 12.4 ppg entering the game, scored just five points in 12 minutes.

“What we need are guys to step up and play the best basketball of their career,” Walker said. “We need more productivity from returning players.”

Despite the loss junior captain Mike Gordon, who is averaging 9.8 ppg and 4.7 assists, expressed no worry.

“They could be more vocal and bring more intensity, but they’ll be all right,” he said. “We just have to find a way to get over the hump and play to win, not to lose. We keep getting close, but we need to pull out these games.”