By Carter Schum | March 10, 2025
On Saturday, The University at Albany men’s basketball team defeated the Binghamton Bearcats 69-66 in the America East conference tournament quarter finals.
Amar’e Marshall during the America East Quarterfinal game against Binghamton. Marshall scored 20 points during Saturday’s win.
Photo Credit: Brent Warzocha/UAlbany Athletics
“We battled and I thought we showed a lot of heart,” head coach Dwyane Killings said on his team's postseason victory, their first under his leadership.
The early part of the game swung towards the Great Danes, as they took a 7-6 lead within the first three minutes of the game.
The Great Danes and Bearcats were neck-and-neck in the middle part of the first half, as the teams were level 17-17 with just under 12 minutes to play in the first stanza.
Amar’e Marshall connected on his third triple of the half to give the Great Danes their largest lead up to that point at 26-21 with 8:05 remaining.
UAlbany’s Byron Joshua and Binghamton’s Tymu Chenery were issued offsetting technical fouls with 5:55 remaining, after they appeared to have some words with each other after a play in which Joshua fouled Chenery on his way to the rim.
UAlbany continued to utilize the longball, as Freshman Amir Lindsey connected on his first 3-point attempt of the night, which helped to increase the UAlbany lead to 29-24 with 3:59 left in the first half. This became 31-24 after Marshall added a pair of three throws to increase his tally to 11 points.
The Great Danes hot hand from beyond the arc continued to show as Marshall and Lindsey added their fourth and second triples respectively which helped UAlbany to get their biggest lead of the first half to 12, leading 39-27 with just under two minutes to go.
The Bearcats scored the final basket of the first half, however the Great Danes took a 39-30 advantage into the break.
The Great Danes finished the half 14-29 from the field, and 7-18 from beyond the arc. Marshall led UAlbany in scoring with 14, all but two of those coming from 3-point range.
“I think we did a good job kicking it out once we saw the double teams and I just had to find open areas,” Marshall said of his first half performance.
The Bearcats were a tick behind UAlbany in the first half, finishing 12-32 from the field and 4-13 from deep. Senior Chris Walker led Binghamton in points for the first half with seven.
The Bearcats controlled the early portion of the second half, as they scored early and often to cut the UAlbany lead to 43-38 in the first 2:30.
Binghamton continued to outwork the Great Danes in the second half, as Nehemiah Benson scored eight points within the first five minutes to cut the UAlbany lead to just four.
The Great Danes responded by going on a 7-2 run to push their lead to 53-45 with 13 minutes to play.
UAlbany found their footing once again, as a tremendous finish by Kheni Briggs through contact resulted in a 3-point play that pushed the Great Dane lead to 64-50 with 8:30 remaining in the game.
The Bearcats did not go down without a fight however, as a triple from Ben Callahan-Gold cut the Great Dane lead to 66-59 with 4:05 left in the game.
Binghamton did not stop there, as they held the Great Danes to just two points in the next nearly four minutes of play, and took advantage of a trio of UAlbany turnovers to cut the lead to 68-66.
Following a Great Dane possession that ended in a missed 3-point shot from Lindsey, the Bearcats had the ball with 17.6 seconds remaining. On the possession, Binghamton attempted to create an open shot for Chenery however, Marshall got his hand in between the pass and knocked it free. He then picked up the ball off the floor in a scramble of several players from both teams with UAlbany securing the possession and forcing the Bearcats to foul with just over 12 seconds remaining.
Following another Binghamton foul, Lindsey headed to the line to shoot one and one. He made the first shot, but the second shot fell short, and the Bearcats had one last shot with 11.5 seconds remaining.
Callahan-Gold took a three-point shot in the dying seconds to try and tie the game, however it fell just short, and a UAlbany rebound sealed the game in favor of the Great Danes 69-66.
Marshall led the Great Danes in scoring with 20 points, while Benson led the Bearcats with 19.
With the win, UAlbany advances to play No.1 seed Bryant in the America East semifinals on Tuesday, March 11. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN2.
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