After defeating RIT 66-56 on Wednesday night, the Binghamton men’s basketball team hosted Niagara, ultimately falling 67-59. Both squads were neck and neck in the first half, swapping leads throughout, but the Bearcats surrendered a 25-10 run deep in the second half that gave the Purple Eagles a lead they would not relinquish.

“I think we had a few bad shots, a few tough shots — we could have made the shots a lot easier,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “And then they were able to get out in transition and score and cut the lead, they might have taken the lead.”

Niagara (1-1) and Binghamton (1-2) traded shots to open the match, but the Bearcats faced a minor 6-4 deficit by the first media timeout. Niagara continued to tack on points, but a step-back mid-range from junior guard Bryson Wilson after the second media timeout and a corner three-pointer from senior guard Wes Peterson Jr. cut Niagara’s lead to 14-12. Binghamton continued to inch toward its first lead of the match, and graduate student guard Jackson Benigni delivered it with a steal before driving the court for an easy layup.

The Purple Eagles quickly retook the advantage, but a four-point BU run to close the first half was capped off with a slam dunk from junior forward Zyier Beverly, and Binghamton carried a 25-22 lead into the second half. The Bearcats had four turnovers in the first half, surrendering only one through the first 16 minutes of the half.

“We just didn’t turn it over,” Sanders said. “We finished with nine, which is a good number for a game, and they had eight. I think that’s probably our lowest turnover total all season, so nine is a good number.”

Both teams continued to swap buckets in the opening minutes of the second half as Niagara inched toward the lead. However, the Bearcats answered when junior guard Jeremiah Quigley found Beverly on a lob for his third dunk of the day. Beverly followed it up with a corner three-pointer on Binghamton’s next possession to give the team a 32-28 advantage.

The Purple Eagles struck back with a three of their own, but a three-pointer by Quigley from the top of the key kept Binghamton ahead by four. Niagara’s offense then heated up, stringing together a 7-0 run with three consecutive scores and a pair of Binghamton turnovers, forcing Sanders to call a timeout.

“I thought the 1-3-1 was good today,” Sanders said. “I wasn’t really concerned about the threes, I think they got it at the elbow, at the foul line a couple of times. We needed to sink in a little bit at the top guy, but I thought the 1-3-1 was good.”

Coming out of the timeout, the Bearcats went on a 10-0 run that concluded with a pair of contested layups from senior center Demetrius Lilley and junior guard Ryan Richardson. Nursing a seven-point lead, Binghamton surrendered a 10-0 run to the Purple Eagles, as Niagara took control of the match with a three-point lead. The Bearcats stayed within striking distance on a driving layup from Quigley and he followed the score with a pair of free throws to make it a two-point game.

However, a key and one layup from the Purple Eagles had Binghamton facing a five-point Niagara lead with 1:55 to play. Quigley scored all six of the Bearcats’ points in the final minutes of the game, but the Bearcats were unable to climb back as they fell 67-59.

“They ran a play two times in a row and got the same result,” Sanders said. “So we got to execute better down the stretch. We got to develop a killer instinct when we are up, to not let a team come back into the game and we didn’t do that today, so we got to be better with that.”

Quigley led the Bearcats in scoring, netting 16 points with five-for-six shooting from the line, alongside three assists and five rebounds. Meanwhile, Lilley secured his second double-double in as many games, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 boards, while adding three blocks to his tally.

“[Quigley] is a good player,” Sanders said. “He got going, he was able to get into the lane, he found some guys on some cuts. So he can do that, and we’re going to need him to do that. Last couple of games, he’s been getting in foul trouble, so we have to keep him out of foul trouble. But he can make plays, and I think he can be a big-time assist guy.”

Binghamton will look to get back in the win column when it takes on Georgetown. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.