Army Rally Falls Short at Home Against Binghamton

WEST POINT – Army West Point men’s basketball (5-6) saw a third straight loss on Sunday, falling in Christl Arena to the Binghamton Bearcats (8-6), 78-68.

The Black Knights finished the game shooting 38.7 percent from the field and 32 percent from the three-point line. Meanwhile, the Bearcats finished the Sunday afternoon matchup shooting 49 percent from the field and 60 percent from the three-point line.

Three Black Knights finished the game shooting in double digits. Josh Scovens led the way for the second straight game with 16 points alongside three rebounds and two blocks. Jalen Rucker finished with 14 points with four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Ryan Curry rounded out the ground with 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

AJ Allenspach led the team with 11 rebounds, alongside eight points and two blocks. Jorn Everson also scored valuable minutes off the bench, finishing the game with nine points, two rebounds and one steal.

Both teams held each other scoreless in the first two minutes of the game, with the first basket of the game being a three-pointer from Ryan Curry. The Bearcats followed the shot with a quick 6-0 spurt, but the Black Knights rallied back with the help of five points from Jalen Rucker to take a 10-9 lead with 13:18 left on the clock.

Army held a narrow lead until the Bearcats went on a 12-0 run from the 11:34 mark to the 7:53 point of the first half. This extended the Bearcats’ lead to 25-16, with the run being broken by a tough layup by Josh Scovens.

The Black Knights and the Bearcats exchanged points back in forth up until the 2:20 mark, which marked the start of a 7-2 run for Army to cut the lead to lead to six points. But a quick three from Binghamton gave the Bearcats a 42-33 lead heading into halftime.

Heading into the second half, Army struck the first big blow. The Black Knights went on a 6-0 run in 51 seconds to help Binghamton’s lead to 47-41 with 16:35 left in the game. This run was spearheaded by four points from Jorn Everson and a layup from Jalen Rucker.

The two teams continued to battle in the second half with the Bearcats slowly building a lead back up. That all changed with under eight minutes left. The Black Knights went on another 7-2 run to trim the Bearcats lead back down, and only trailed 63-68 with 3:16 left in the game.

Despite gaining a bunch of momentum, the Bearcats threw the final blow. Binghamton outscored the Bearcats 10-5 in the final three minutes to double its lead, ultimately pulling away and leaving West Point with a win.