On Sunday, the Binghamton men’s basketball team returned home to face off against Division III’s Hartwick. The Bearcats showcased a record-setting performance, winning 110-41, setting multiple Division I era and program records.
“It just shows us that we’re capable of doing this, and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “We’re capable of doing this, and we have to play this way.”
With six minutes to go against Hartwick (0-5), senior center Yarden Willis passed the ball to a cutting junior forward Bryce Beamer. Beamer knocked down the running layup, giving BU (2-3) its first 100-point game since 2018. Shortly after, a free throw from senior guard Alex Brodsky gave the Bearcats their second-highest point total in their history, with the highest point total being a record of 113 set in 2017. Their 69-point margin of victory is their largest in the entire 76-year history of the program. The team also set Division I-era records with 45 made field goals, 65 percent field goal percentage and 59 points in the first half.
“I was just trying to explain to our guys that you got to take this serious,” Sanders said. “It’s a serious game, even though it might be a Division III opponent, we have to respect everybody we play against, and we have to go out and put that effort forward to go out and win games.”
Early on, Hartwick contested with the home side, trailing by only two points just over six minutes into the game. After removing all the starters from the game, the teams traded a pair of buckets before sophomore guard Kellen Amos knocked down a 3-pointer, sparking a 15-1 run to take a 31-15 lead.
“I didn’t think we started the game well,” Sanders said. “At the first media timeout, they had 11 points, which I thought was way too many points. We talked about not letting them score 60 points. So that wasn’t a good start. I took everybody out, just to try to send a message.”
Following that run, Binghamton continued to dominate the scoreboard, ending the half leading by 30 points. The Bearcats made 25 of their 37 first-half shots and 40 percent of their 3-point shots. Junior guard Dan Petcash made a return to the lineup after being sidelined with an injury and added a team-high 21 points on 8-9 shooting.
“[Petcash is] the guy that can defend, he can shoot, he can rebound, he can do a lot of things for you,” Sanders said. “So this is definitely a welcome sight to have [Petcash] back.”
The scoring was spread throughout the lineup as six Bearcats tallied double digits. Beamer came the closest to Petcash’s total, netting 13 points in only 12 minutes. No single BU athlete played more than 22 minutes as all 15 players stepped on the court. They also recorded a season-high 21 assists.
“I didn’t want anybody coming out thinking that they were going to try to pad their stat,” Sanders said. “I wanted the ball to move. I wanted us to play together. I want us to share the ball. It wasn’t about one guy coming out and trying to score 25 or 30 points.”
To start the second half, junior guard Tyler Bertram went 3-3 from beyond the arc in the first four minutes, fueling a 29-6 run throughout the first 10 minutes of the half. Petcash continued his strong return, adding eight more points in the first 10 minutes of the second, shooting 3-3 in that span.
“Overall, I thought the game went pretty well once we started moving the ball, making the extra pass,” Petcash said. “That’s when we started doing well.”
After a scoring 3-pointer with 17 minutes to go, Hartwick failed to score for the following seven minutes. During that span, BU caused six turnovers and swiped the ball four times. The Bearcats’ defense only allowed 12 points and held the Hawks to 4-20 from the field. Those 12 points are the lowest a Division I Binghamton team has ever allowed in a half.
“It doesn’t matter who you play against, I’m not talking about who we’re planning against, it’s just how we have to defend,” Sanders said.” If we defend like that against a Division I team, it might not be 12 points, but it might be 20. We got to keep that consistency on both sides of the ball.”
The Bearcats are next scheduled to take on Saint Joseph’s University on Wednesday, Dec. 1. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.