Binghamton, Hartford, Stony Brook Win Conference Openers

Both Binghamton and Hartford picked up important wins for far different reasons on Saturday afternoon. The Bearcats, winners of 3 straight and 6 of 8 coming in, showed off their explosive offense with four players in double-figures and 51 percent shooting from the floor and downed Maine 70-62 in the league opener for both teams. The win was the Bearcats first in their last 6 league openers and their 8-4 start is the program's best in 15 years. D.J. Rivera, the leading scorer in America East (21.2 ppg), continued to make an impact with a game-high 24 points and had 6 rebounds. Dwayne Jackson added 12 off of the bench, while Reggie Fuller and Emanuel Mayben each had 10. Fuller also contributed 7 rebounds and Mayben dished out 6 assists. For Maine, which has dropped 5 straight, Gerald McLemore, the top rookie scorer in the league, had 16 points. Junior Bernal had 14 points and 9 rebounds, while Sean McNally added 11 points and 7 boards.

In somewhat of a surprise Hartford, which went into to its league opener against Albany 4-9, grabbed a 27-25 halftime lead and never surrendered it en route to a 64-54 victory at Case Arena. Morgan Sabia scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half for Hawks, who were without leading scorer Joe Zeglinski for the fourth straight game. Jaret von Rosenberg added 13 and Michael Turner had 11. For Albany, which stood at 8-5 coming in, matching the program's best start at Division I, Will Harris had a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. Brian Connelly was the only other Great Dane in twin figures with 14 points to go with 7 rebounds.

In the lone night game, Stony Brook continued to show its for real with a 69-61 win at defending chamion UMBC. The Seawolves have won 3 straight and 7 of 9 to improve to 8-5 heading into Monday's battle with the equally hot Bearcats on MSG+. Bryan Dougher and Muhammad El-Amin each had 19 to lead the Seawolves. Darryl Proctor had a monster game of 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Retrievers, who fell to 5-7 on the season.

In non-league action, Vermont extended NJIT's losing streak to 47 games with a 73-48 win at Patrick Gym. The Catamounts have won 8 of their last 10 games. Marqus Blakely 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds to lead Vermont. Mike Trimboli added 10 for the Catamounts, who open conference play Thursday at home against Boston University.