For Immediate Release: November 20, 2006
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

BU men's basketball builds early lead, hangs on for 66-59 victory over Mt. St. Mary's
Proctor scores career-high 14 points, seals win with three free throws in final 20 seconds

Box Score
Postgame quotes

VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton senior guard Steve Proctor (Largo, Md.) sank three free throws in the final 20 seconds to preserve a 66-59 victory over visiting Mt. St. Mary's (1-3) in a men's college basketball game Monday night at the Events Center. Binghamton (2-1) opened the game on a 14-2 run and led from start to finish in earning its second straight win.

Proctor, playing his first game of the season after recovering from a broken hand, scored a career-high 14 points, and freshman forward Lazar Trifunovic (Belgrade, Serbia) stemmed a 13-2 late Mountaineers charge with two clutch free throws with 46 seconds left. Mt. St. Mary's had trimmed a 12-point deficit to three, 60-57, with less than a minute remaining, and then intentionally fouled the 6-foot-8 first-year forward. Trifunovic calmly sank the pair and Proctor followed with one free throw with 20 seconds left and two more with 12 seconds remaining. Earlier, Proctor blocked a Mountie three-point attempt and grabbed the rebound - one of five boards.

"It was a good win for us," head coach Al Walker said. "Mt. St. Mary's is a tough-minded team. We came out of the gate strong and even though I would've liked to finish a little cleaner, it was a nice win for our program."

Binghamton held Mt. St. Mary's without a field goal for the game's first 4:26 and built a 14-2 cushion with five different players scoring in the run. The lead swelled to as many as 17 points before BU settled for a 33-22 halftime lead.

In addition to Proctor, three other Bearcats reached double figures. Junior guard Richard Forbes (Far Rockaway, N.Y.) scored 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting, senior guard Troy Hailey (Hyattsville, Md.) hit 3-of-3 from three-point range en route to 11 points and junior guard Mike Gordon (Plainfield, N.J.) added 10 points and six assists.

Mt. St. Mary's was led by freshman guard Jeremy Goode, who scored a game-high 18 points.

Binghamton will next host Cornell on Saturday in the first meeting between the two Upstate New York schools in 16 years. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m., following the women's game against Liberty, which begins at 1 p.m.

NOTES: Proctor was selected as the America East Player of the Game.