The Binghamton men’s basketball team’s five-game skid came to an end as the Bearcats captured its first win of America East (AE) conference play with a 51-50 win over Maine. BU set the tone early with a quick double-digit lead. Despite a late comeback from the Black Bears in the final minute of the game, graduate student guard Symir Torrence nailed a floater which would be the eventual game-winning basket for the Bearcats.

“I’m happy because we’ve been putting a lot of work in,” said Binghamton head coach Levell Sanders. “If you put work in, you want to be rewarded for it.”

Maine (10-11, 2-4 AE) opened up the scoring with a jump shot. Binghamton (9-10, 1-5 AE) came back with eight straight points starting with a pull-up jumper from senior forward Tariq Balogun to even the score. Graduate student guard Dan Petcash then followed this up with two more points, getting the friendly bounce off a stop-and-pop jumper. A few possessions later, Balogun found a cutting senior forward Nehemiah Benson. Senior guard Armon Harried capped off this run with a layup to make it 8-2 Bearcats and later drained a wide-open jump shot to make it an 11-point game.

“When we don’t give teams the ability to come out and start fast, it doesn’t give them confidence,” Sanders said. “[Maine] was playing on their heels. They weren’t as confident, shot spots were a little shaky … Today, we weren’t turning it over, giving them easy baskets in transition.”

The Black Bears went into a three-two zone midway through the first half, BU continued to find the open man in the paint as baskets from Harried and Balogun made it 19-8. The Bearcats’ defense kept the Maine offense at bay, maintaining a double-digit lead. Balogun stayed dominant in the paint, grabbing an offensive rebound and slamming one in to make it 25-13. After a late basket from Maine to end the period, BU held a 28-19 lead going into halftime.

“We have to score points in the paint because we don’t shoot a ton out of it,” Sanders said. “So for us, it’s about getting the ball inside, getting the ball into the paint, and I thought we did a really good job of being intentional about that.”

The Black Bears went on a 6-0 run to start the second half, cutting the Bearcats’ lead to 28-23. Binghamton remained scoreless — three minutes into the half — until Torrence found Benson in the paint for two points. Maine continued to cut into the BU lead, making it a three-point game with a layup. Not long after, Torrence found a cutting Harried on the baseline who rose for a dunk. Harried followed this up with a fast break layup to make it 34-28 for the Bearcats.

“[Benson] scored some bashes inside for us,” Sanders said. “That was huge. He played good … It’s just a total team effort that we got to add every single night.”

Binghamton stretched its lead to seven at 38-31 after Balogun finished a tough layup in the paint. However, Maine stayed in it, cutting the Bearcats’ lead to one several times. Eventually, Maine took its first lead since the beginning minutes of the game at 43-42. Binghamton responded with four straight points to retake the lead at 47-43. With under a minute to go, Maine knocked down two free throws to take a 50-49 lead. With 12.9 seconds left on the game clock, Torrence floated one in to give BU a 51-50 lead with 4.8 seconds left. Despite an open look from beyond the arc, the Black Bears were unable to capitalize as the Bearcats came out on top 51-50.

“We went [into a one-three-one zone] and got some stops,” Sanders said. “We just wanted to put the ball in [Torrence’s] hands and have him be a playmaker … [Torrence] hit a nice floater that won the game for us.”

Harried spearheaded BU’s winning effort with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Benson and Balogun chipped in 12 and 11 points respectively. The Bearcats’ defense kept the Black Bears at bay, holding them to just 34.8 percent shooting from the field. Binghamton also held the advantage in the paint, outscoring Maine 34-14.

“[Harried] did a really good job of attacking the basket,” Sanders said. “He also had some nice assists. He defended well. So I think he’s back to playing his style of basketball instead of just jacking up jump shots.”

The Bearcats will take on NJIT on Thursday, Feb. 1 as they look to continue to build momentum in AE play. Tipoff is set for 6:07 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.