For Immediate Release: March 7, 2009
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Top-seeded BU men's basketball holds off Hartford 73-65 to advance
Alvin scores season-high 29 points, BU moves into America East semifinals

Box score

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Top-seeded Binghamton (21-8) used a 20-6 second-half run to pull away from No. 9 Hartford (7-26) 73-65 Saturday night in an America East quarterfinal game from Albany's SEFCU Arena. The win was BU's ninth in a row and 11th in its last 12 and advances the Bearcats into Sunday night's semifinals against the winner of the No. 4 New Hampshire/No. 5 Stony Brook winner.

Junior guard Malik Alvin scored a game-and season-high 29 points and junior guard Emanuel Mayben added 21 points, six rebounds and five assists. Junior guard D.J. Rivera notched his seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bearcats led 55-35 with 6:28 left and still enjoyed a 14-point margin with 50 seconds left before the Hawks drained four three-pointers in the final 30 seconds to tighten the final score. Binghamton made 12-of-14 free throws in the final 1:11 to secure the win.

"It was a war right to the end," head coach Kevin Broadus said. "Hartford came to play and I take my hat off to them. We were fortunate there wasn't more time left on the clock. We have to regroup and get ready for tomorrow."

The Hawks trimmed a 13-point halftime deficit to six, 33-27, after scoring the first seven points of the second half. But BU sturdied itself thanks primarily to Mayben and Alvin, who combined for 15 points during that 20-6 run that pushed Binghamton's lead up to 20, 55-35. The Beacats limited the Hawks to just one field goal during a period of 11:09 (1-for-14).

The Bearcats got off to a sluggish start, misfiring on 8-of-10 to start the game. But BU's defense forced six Hartford turnovers in the first nine minutes and the offense kicked in halfway through the period. Mayben scored 10 of his 12 first-half points during a 19-4 run (in 7:45) that turned a 10-6 deficit into a 25-14 lead with 4:15 left. Alvin netted six of his 10 during that run and the Bearcats made 7-of-11 shots the rest of the way. Binghamton also got to the line, where they converted 11-of-14 in the first period to stake a 33-20 lead at intermission.

NOTES
BU's nine-game win streak is among the top-10 current streaks in the nation... Binghamton advances to the America East semifinals for the third time in the last five years but first time since 2006... Alvin's 29 points are the most of any BU player in six years of AE Championship play... His 15 free throws are also a team tournament record...The game was delayed 40 minutes due to a malfunction in the game and shot clock system.