Same quick start, same slow finish.
Same painful result.
The Binghamton men’s basketball team (3-3) shot 49 percent in the first half against Rider, but shot a dismal 26 percent after intermission. The Bearcats were outscored by 20 points over the final 20 minutes, as the Rider Broncs (5-2) defeated the Bearcats 79-65 Saturday at the Events Center.
After missing seven of its first 10 shots and digging itself into a 15-6 hole, Binghamton went on an offensive tear, hitting 13 of its next 21 shots, including six of 13 from beyond the arc to take an eight-point lead with over two minutes to go in the half. Despite no points from Steve Proctor or Richard Forbes, who had carried the Bearcat offense the past few games, BU took a 42-36 advantage into the locker room.
And then it happened. Again.
“We couldn’t get the job done defensively in the second half,” said BU head coach Al Walker.
The six-point lead quickly turned into a 43-43 tie. Binghamton tried several times to pull away, including a 10-2 run to take a 53-45 lead, but from there the Broncs’ tandem of Jason Thompson and Lamar Johnson put the game away, practically by themselves.
Thompson, the MAAC star whom Binghamton held to nine points in the first half, scored nine straight points for Rider over a three-minute span, and the game was tied at 54.
After the Bearcats scored twice to take a brief 58-54 lead, Johnson followed with a run of his own, netting 11 straight points on three 3-pointers and a long two over a span of only 1:34; Binghamton turned the ball over three times in that stretch.
The score was 65-60 and BU never got close again, as Rider continued to shut down the Bearcat offense, and the Broncs hit 11 of 12 second-half free throws to ice the game.
“I’m very pleased with the way my team played,” said Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey. “It was our fourth game in seven days and we came off a heart-breaking loss … to be on the court 40 hours later against such a quality team was a big concern of mine.”
Fatigue may have been a concern for Rider, but it was the Bearcats who looked to suffer from it as the game wore on.
Sophomore Ian Milne did not dress for the game with a migraine, and senior Duane James, who scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds in only 10 minutes of action in the first half, got a cut from an elbow above the eye early in the second half.
Mike Gordon also got a bloody nose after taking a shot to the face with 7:32 to go, and Binghamton was beaten and bruised, running out of steam as the minutes ticked off the clock.
James led BU with 16 points in only 14 minutes. Lazar Trifunovic, making his first collegiate start, and Gordon both scored 10 points, but only two of their 20 combined points came in the second half; Gordon also did not register an assist after the half.
Dwayne Jackson made his first start as well, coming away with nine points on three big 3-pointers in the first half, but missed all five of his second-half shot attempts.
The second-half struggles are becoming evident to all, including coach Walker.
“When it came down to crunch time, we absolutely were not good enough, period,” he said, adding, “We didn’t make any plays at all down the stretch on either end of the floor.”
Thompson finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for Rider, with 10 of his boards in the second half. Johnson added 16 points and Terrence Mouton chipped in with 11 points and six assists.
In the second half alone, Rider managed 14 points in the paint, 12 second chance points and 17 points off turnovers. Binghamton managed only five points off turnovers and six points on second opportunities.
After the game, team captains Gordon and James, both bloody from injuries sustained in play, offered little explanation.
“They just hit shots,” Gordon said. “They hit shots at the right time. We had open shots, we didn’t make them. They got their opportunity and they capitalized.”
Asked about the first half/second half disparity, James said the Bearcats simply need to remember that they took the lead as a team, and need to continue to play as a team to come away with victories.
“Sometimes guys think they’re hot and they forget we all got there together,” James said. “We’ve got to learn to build from our first half to carry over to the second.”
The Bearcats have now lost two in a row and their poor finishes to games are becoming an even bigger concern. It’s a pattern Binghamton fans are surely tiring of and not likely to be willing to endure much longer.