VESTAL, N.Y. – Binghamton men’s basketball (3-2) built a 14-game halftime lead and then shot 65 percent in the second half to topple visiting Marist (2-1) 82-59 Saturday afternoon at Dr. Bai Lee Court. The win was BU’s third straight and came in front of 2,164 fans at the Events Center. 

The Bearcats broke away from an 11-11 tie six minutes into the game and used a 27-8 run spanning 11+ minutes to forge a 38-19 cushion. The Red Foxes scored the last six points of the period to enter intermission down 38-24. But after seeing their margin cut to 10 three minutes into the second half, BU responded with a 26-9 run and never looked back. Binghamton made 15-of-23 shots in the second half.

Sophomore forward Chris Walker scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and hit 7-of-9 for the game (5-of-7 from 3-point range). Graduate guard Dan Petcash added 16 points on 6-of-8 accuracy. Senior guard Tymu Chenery had 10 points and seven boards and graduate guard Symir Torrence chipped in eight points, seven assists and five rebounds.

Binghamton had six players with eight or more points and held Marist to just 38 percent shooting in a balanced performance at both ends of the floor.

“It was a total team win,” head coach Levell Sanders said. “I thought guys guys came out and competed. We know Marist is the type of team to play hard for 40 minutes and I thought we did a really good job defensively, especially in the first half guarding the three (Marist was 1-for-11). We didn’t let them score a ton of points in the paint and for the most part, we didn’t give up easy baskets, which they’ve been getting a lot of.” 

Biinghamton next faces Northeast Conference preseason favorite Sacred Heart Tuesday morning in Fairfield. Tip is 11:30 a.m.at the Pitt Center.