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What was supposed to happen for the University at Albany basketball team happened Thursday.
The Great Danes, who have had no problems with Binghamton the past seven years, continued their America East mastery over the Bearcats.
Four players scored in double figures and UAlbany beat Binghamton 66-54 in front of 2,241 at the Events Center. This was the 14th straight win for the Danes over Binghamton. The last time UAlbany lost to the Wildcats was Feb. 3, 2010.
With this win, the Danes improve to 16-11 overall and 7-5 in the America East. UAlbany is in fourth place in the league with four games left in the regular season. UAlbany, which has won seven of its past nine, is now also bearing down on third place.
UMBC, which occupies that spot, lost at home to last place Hartford 84-77 on Thursday. The Retreivers, who play UAlbany at SEFCU Arena on Wednesday night, are 7-4 in the league.
“Our players and myself don’t fear anyone,” UAlbany coach Will Brown said. “This is a good, solid league. Some teams have already packed it in. We are one of those teams that are trying to get better.”
After a sluggish start to Thursday’s game, the Danes began to find an offensive groove with five minutes left in the half and that is what determined the outcome of this one.
Trailing Binghamton 20-15, the Danes outscored the Bearcats (12-15, 3-9) 12-0 to end the half and took a 27-20 lead. Sophomore Davonte Campbell had seven points during the run and Joe Cremo had five.
UAlbany carried that momentum into the second half and turned the game into a rout. The Danes outscored Binghamton 13-4 to start the half and the lead ballooned to 40-24. The UAlbany lead would get as big as 23 points in the second half.
Campbell finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, his first double-double in his UAlbany career. Since entering the starting lineup nine games ago, Campbell has scored in double figures five times.
“I don’t think we necessarily started to play better,” Campbell said of the UAlbany run. “We just wanted to take some good shots and be aggressive on both sides of the floor.”
But the 6-foot-6 sophomore is playing because of his defense. Brown always assigns Campbell the toughest offensive player on the opposition and, on this night, it was Binghamton’s leading scorer Willie Rodriguez, who came in averaging 13.1 points.
Rodriguez scored seven points, but didn’t get his first basket until 10:23 remained in the game and the outcome was no longer in doubt.
“(Campbell) brings more to their team defensively than offensively,” said Binghamton coach Tommy Dempsey. “But he made 3s. We allowed him to shoot. We concentrate mainly on Cremo and (David) Nichols. We forced some other guys to beat us. We just didn’t get it done tonight.”
Afterwards, Campbell was saying his main asset to this team was his defense and rebounding, but his teammates would not let him forget his offense.
“He makes us more of a dangerous team,” said Cremo, who finished with 13 points. “We need everyone, when they are open, to knock down shots.”
“Devonte has made us a much better basketball team,” Brown said. “He has been a force on both ends of the floor. I have had to yell at him the last two games to shoot the ball more because he is a good, solid shooter.”
The Danes did make nine of 21 shots from 3-point range with Cremo and Nichols, UAlbany’s leading scorer with 17 points, knocking down three each and Campbell getting two.
Besides the game next week with UMBC, the Danes still have road trips to Maine and Vermont and a home game with Hartford before the league tournament starts on March 1.
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
UALBANY 66, BINGHAMTON 54
UALBANY (16-11, 7-5)
Player Min FG FT R A Pts
Nichols 37 7-13 0-1 5 4 17
Cremo 37 5-14 0-0 7 2 13
Campbell 31 4-10 2-2 10 3 12
Stire 24 1-3 2-4 6 3 4
Rowley 27 0-3 0-0 3 0 0
Charles 25 5-6 4-5 1 2 14
Ennema 1-3 3-3 1 0 6
Anderson 3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Grayson 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Martin-Garcia 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Fruscio 1 0-0 0-0 4 0 0
Totals 23-52 11- 15 37 15 66
BINGHAMTON (12-15, 3-9)
Player Min FG FT R A Pts
Rose 34 6-13 0-0 5 2 14
Rodriguez 34 3-6 0-0 5 0 7
Davis 20 2-6 3-4 2 1 7
Bruce 27 1-4 2-2 1 2 4
Beck 15 0-3 0-0 2 0 0
Yacob 14 3-7 0-0 0 0 7
Perovic 19 3-4 0-0 2 1 6
Rinaldi 18 1-3 1-2 2 0 3
Muhammad 13 1-4 0-0 3 1 3
Schurman 1 1-1 0-0 0 0 3
McRae 5 0-0 0-0 2 0 0Totals 21-52 6-8 25 7 54
Halftime—UAlbany, 27-20. 3-point goals—UAlbany 9-21 (Nichols 3-7, Cremo 3-5, Campbell 2-6, Ennema 1-3), Binghamton 6-16 (Rose 2-4, Rodriguez 1-1, Davis 0-3, Beck 0-2, Yacob 1-2, Perovic 0-1, Muhammad 1-2, Schurman 1-1). Fouled out—None. Blocked shots—UAlbany 2 (Ennema 2), Binghamton 4 (Rodriguez, Bruce 2, Perovic). Turnovers—UAlbany 9 (Nichols 2, Cremo 2, Campbell, Stire, Charles, Martin-Garcia 2), Binghamton 5 (Rose, Rodriguez, Perovic, Muhammad 2). Steals—UAlbany 4 (Stire 3, Rowley), Binghamton 3 (Bruce, Yacob, Rinaldi). A—2,241.
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