After a win against UMass Lowell to kick off conference play, Binghamton men’s lacrosse fell 13-7 to NJIT on Saturday night. After heading into halftime tied at 4-4, the Bearcats were outscored 9-3 in the second half, including a decisive third quarter that ultimately put the game out of reach.

“Credit to them, I think they got a good team there,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin McKeown. “I felt like the first half, we had some opportunities that we didn’t finish and I thought one thing that they did really well was when they had some opportunities offensively, they did a better job finishing than us.”

The Bearcats (2-7, 1-2 AE) started off strong, matching NJIT (5-5, 2-0 AE) goal-for-goal in the first half. Senior midfielders Will Feldmann and Tyler Martini each found the back of the net in the opening quarter, pushing Binghamton to an early 2-1 lead. After the Highlanders tied things up at 2-2, Binghamton’s offense began to sputter and a shot from Feldmann in the final minute of the period bounced off the post as the foes headed into the second quarter deadlocked at 2-2.

Sophomore face-off specialist Flynn Wilson quickly made an impact, winning the opening face-off before adding a goal of his own to give the Bearcats back the lead. NJIT was quick to tie things up once more, but the Bearcats got back ahead with a score from freshman attack Liam Byrne. The final score of the half came courtesy of NJIT as Binghamton struggled to convert looks on the cage.

Starting off the second half, play began to shift in favor of the Highlanders. The third quarter proved to be the turning point, as Binghamton was held scoreless for the entire 15-minute stretch. The offense stalled, managing shots but failing to capitalize, while NJIT took advantage on the other end, scoring four unanswered goals to take an 8-4 lead into the fourth quarter.

“Third quarter, I felt like we went a little stale offensively and didn’t move the ball as well as we needed to,” McKeown said. “Unfortunately, we dug a hole there in that quarter and it was too much to overcome.”

Entering the fourth quarter trailing 8-4, Binghamton attempted to rally, but the Highlanders scored twice to go ahead 10-4. Feldmann opened the Bearcats’ scorebook in the period and junior attack Andrew Girolamo contributed a goal of his own, while senior midfielder Gavin Jacobsen added another late tally to cut into the deficit.

However, trailing 11-7 with just over three minutes to play, the Bearcats surrendered a pair of scores in 16 seconds. They failed to convert a trifecta of shots to close out the match as they fell 13-7.

“The biggest thing is just offensively trying to let the ball do the work a little bit more,” McKeown said. “And I think we did that early on, we created some good opportunities. As we got later in the game, I thought we tried to do a little bit too much, too early in possession.”

Binghamton will compete in its final nonconference match of the season against Delaware on Saturday, March 28. Face-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Delaware Stadium in Newark, Delaware.