Men’s basketball drops home opener to Brown

Brown guards Matt Sullivan and Sean McGonagill combined for 34 points to pace the visiting Bears in a 58-49 win over Binghamton men’s basketball (0-2) on Nov. 10 from the Events Center.

Brown (1-0) shot 50 percent in the second half and held off the Bearcats, who missed their final 10 shots in the comeback attempt.

“We fought hard and I’m proud of our effort,” head coach Tommy Dempsey said. “We have a long way to go but it’s a process at this point. I thought we guarded well defensively and we hustled. But we have to become a better rebounding team. I think fatigue played a factor today. We didn’t seem to have great legs on our shots.”

Playing the team’s second game in less than three days, Binghamton fell behind 7-0 in the game’s opening minutes. The Bearcats trailed the entire first half until an 8-0 run fueled by a pair of Taylor Johnston three-pointers brought them even 25-25 at intermission. Johnston, who drilled 4-of-6 threes for the game, hit a pair in a 25-second span in the closing two minutes to ignite the crowd of 2,000-plus and give Binghamton momentum heading to the locker room.

Senior guard Jimmy Gray and Johnston then hit threes in the first 2:19 of the second half to stake Binghamton to a 31-25 lead. Later, Brown hit back-to-back threes before senior guard Mike Horn drove for a layup to give Binghamton a 35-31 lead with 14:36 to play. But the Bears went on a 15-3 run that featured eight points from Sullivan, who wound up with a game-high 18 points. That run, which spanned 4:47, gave Brown a 46-38 cushion with 9:47 left.

The Bearcats chipped away and when junior guard Rayner Moquete knocked down a three with 6:52, Binghamton was within three, 51-48. But Binghamton missed its final 10 shots and a layup, dunk and three free throws in the final 4:16 was enough for the visitors to seal the win.

Johnston and Moquete led the Bearcats with 14 points apiece. Johnston (4-of-6 FG) added a team-high seven rebounds. Moquete drained 4-of-9 from beyond the arc but the rest of the team hit just 1-of-12 from the perimeter. Gray chipped in five points, four assists and two steals.