For Immediate Release: December 27, 2004
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamton men's basketball loses to Ohio, 67-63, in Florida tourney
Bearcats will play Colgate in Tuesday's consolation game of FIU Holiday Classic

Box score

MIAMI, Fla. - Binghamton (2-7) shot just 35% from the field and suffered the team's fourth straight loss - a 67-63 setback to Ohio University (5-2) in the first round of the Florida International Holiday Classic Monday night from Pharmed Arena. The Bearcats will now be relegated to Tuesday's 6 p.m. consolation game where they will face Colgate, which lost to the host Panthers 72-56 in the other first-round game.

The Bearcats trailed 37-30 at intermission, but rallied to take the lead early in the second half. The Bobcats responded, however, by stretching the lead to double figures before a late BU rally fell short. Binghamton drained a pair of three-pointers in the game's final 15 seconds but Ohio made three free throws in the closing 10 seconds to preserve the win.

"We got good shots but we've got to be able to finish stronger," head coach Al Walker said. "We played another good team and I thought we really did have a great effort tonight."

With 11:03 remaining, BU was within two, 45-43, before the Bobcats went on a 10-2 run to bump the margin back up to 10. Binghamton went without a field goal for 6:07 during the run.

Senior center Alex Adediran (Covington, Ga.) and junior forward Sebastian Hermenier (Rockville, Md.) scored 14 and 12 points, respectively. Hermenier also pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Adediran's total - boosted by 10 points in the second half - was a season-high. Junior Schafer Jackson (Provo, Utah) added 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range.

NOTES
The loss was Binghamton's second against a team from the Mid-American Conference. On November 19, BU lost to Kent State, 77-52, at the Marquette Classic ... The Bearcats were unable to overcome a halftime deficit for the fifth time this season (0-5). In the team's four-year Division I tenure, BU is 4-43 after trailing at the break ... Binghamson has lost five of its last six games and is off to the program's worst start since the 1996-97 season when the then-Division III team opened with seven straight defeats ... The Bearcats have shot under 40% in seven of nine games this season, and are 1-6 in those contests ... Senior center Nick Billings (Kodiak, Alaska) attempted just two shots in 18 minutes of action and was limited to three points. Billings did block a season-high four shots.