Box Score THE BASICS:

RESULT: Hartford 76, Binghamton 72
LOCATION: Events Center (Binghamton, N.Y.)
ATTENDANCE: 1,663
RECORDS:  Binghamton (3-13, 0-3 America East), Hartford (6-11, 1-1)
 
THE LEAD:
George Blagojevic scored 20 points, while Pancake Thomas and Taylor Dyson each added 18 to lead the Hartford men's basketball team to a 76-72 win over Binghamton on Wednesday night. Thomas added a team-high nine rebounds in the victory.
 
Willie Rodriguez led the Bearcats with 19 points, while Everson Davis added 17. Thomas Bruce delivered a double-double in the game with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

FIRST HALF:
Hartford started strong, with Dyson picking up where he left off last game, drilling a three to start the Hawks on an 8-4 run. From there, Bearcats were able to score five in a row to make it 9-8, but the teams traded blows over the next several possessions, with Binghamton pushing ahead 16-15 on a pair of free throws by Rodriguez.
 
A Dyson three-point play – his second of the half – started the Hawks on a 5-0 run to regain the lead at 20-16, but the home squad was able to neutralize that advantage, eventually knotting the game once more at 22-all. Dyson again started a rally at that juncture, as his layup sent the Hawks on a 15-6 run, culminating in a Pancake Thomas layup that put the visitors up 37-28. BU was able to get a triple before the buzzer, as Hartford went to the locker room ahead 37-31.

SECOND HALF:
The teams continued to go back-and-forth out of the break, with the Hawks able to slowly push their lead up to 10, courtesy a Dyson jumper that made it a 51-41 Hartford lead at the 14:10 mark. But Binghamton was able to slowly chip away at the advantage, all at the free-throw line, running off nine straight points from the stripe to make it 51-50 with 10:46 left.
 
A Dyson three snapped that rally, but Binghamton was able to cut it back to one at 55-54. Blagojevic then came up with a big baseline jumper, and Thomas followed that with a steal that led to a traditional three-point play. Blagojevic then capped off the rally with a three-ball from the left corner for an 8-0 run and a 63-54 edge. The Hawks were able to push the lead to 10 at 67-57 with 4:57 left.
 
But once more, Binghamton was able to rally, and cut the lead down to four, 69-65, with 2:57 to play. Later, BU got the lead down to three on a Marlon Beck triple with 1:21 to play. But the Hawks were able to get the lead back to four, and from there on made their free throws – four by Jalen Ross – down the stretch to finish off the game.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
• The Hawks made a season-high 14 steals to force 18 Binghamton turnovers. Five different players had at least two steals, led by Pancake Thomas' four.

• Hartford scored 21 points off those 18 turnovers, earning a 21-8 edge in that category.
 
• The Hawks committed eight turnovers in the contest, the fewest since the victory over Niagara on Nov. 24.
 
• Blagojevic delivered his second 20-point game of the year, marking the 10^th 20-point contest by a Hawks player on the season.
 
• The Hawks shot just 17 threes in the game, the fewest since taking eight against St. Francis on Nov. 29.
 
• Hartford scored a season-high 34 points in the paint.

UP NEXT:
Hartford returns home for its first two America East games in Reich Family Pavilion this weekend. The Hawks take on Vermont on Saturday at 7 p.m. and then play host to Stony Brook in a Monday matinee on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day at 1 p.m. For tickets, call 860.768.HAWK (4295) or visit HartfordHawks.com.