FAIRBANKS, Ak. - Keyed by sharp free throw shooting and a sizable edge on the boards, the Binghamton Bearcats topped VMI, 72-63, to capture seventh place in the 2003 BP Top of the World Classic Sunday afternoon at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska.
The Bearcats, out of the America East Conference, hit 30 of 39 free throws, including 19 of 21 in the second half, to finish the game at 76.9%. BU also outrebounded the Keydets on the boards 38-25. VMI got to the stripe just 13 times, and hit nine free throws.
VMI, which entered the game shooting 33% from the field over the first two games, improved significantly on Sunday and shot 43% for the game on 24 of 56 shooting.
The Keydets placed four in double figures scoring. Freshman guard Fred Robinson led the Keydets with 15 points, and got help from senior forward Radee Skipworth (12), freshman forward Chi Chi Ezekwe (11) and Tim Allmond (10).
Binghamton's S'bastian Hermenier led all scorers with 19 points on five of 12 shooting and nine of 10 free throw shooting. Also reaching double figures for the Bearcats were Brandon Carter and Nick Billings, each with 12, and Troy Halley with 10 points.
VMI never held a lead in the game, but twice battled back from double-digit deficits in each half. The Bearcats led 15-5 when Darel Lucas nailed a jumper with 13:13 left in the first half. But the Keydets chipped away and pulled even at 25-25 when Robinson canned a three-pointer from the right wing with 5:28 left in the half. VMI trailed 32-31 at the break.
The Bearcats started quickly in the second half with an 11-2 run over the first 3:29 of the half and took a 43-33 on a Brandon Carter three-pointer. The lead grew to as much as 11 points (51-40) when Hermenier hit a laup at the 13:15 mark, but the Keydets sliced the lead to 61-56 on an Ezekwe layup with 2:45 left in regulation.
VMI fouled to try to overcome the deficit, but the Bearcats stroked nine straight free throws over their last 10 attempts in the remaining time to put the game away. Carter hit five of six from the line during the stretch.
Junior forward Preston Beverly did not play because of back soreness.
VMI next plays Tuesday, December 2, against Southern Virginia in the home opener. Tipoff at Cameron Hall will be 7:00 p.m.
VMI Head Coach Bart Bellairs - "Our team played a lot better basketball today. You want to win, we all want to win, but I'm enough of a purist to feel that if we do better things, we'll get better, and that excites me. I saw some kids step up to the plate. We have a key injury in Tadas Mankevicius' injury (broken nose-preseason). He's not playing like he was in the preseason and one of our forwards, Preston Beverly, was out today (back). Those things all add up, but we have young kids step up. I thought Chi Chi Ezekwe came in and gave us some great minutes. It's all about who's on the floor and getting better and we accomplished that in 120 minutes here in Alaska.We had our chances today. I thought a significant part of the game is that we rushed some shots early in the first and second half."
