The first half featured solid defense on by both Colgate and Binghamton. Colgate kept switching back and forth from a 2-3 zone to man throughout the half. Binghamton struggled early, going 2-for-13 to start.

Colgate dominated the paint, getting solid minutes from Peter Minchella. Minchella is typically an outside threat, but had four first half points on lay-ups. Minchella set very good-looking screens that helped get Colgate shooters open. Colgate led by 9 with 9:05 remaining in the first.

Binghamton shot much more consistently at the end of the half. A late flurry of threes drew the Bearcats even in the final seconds of the half. Binghamton kept the game close by defensively clamping down on Colgate’s outside shooters. Colgate uncharacteristically did not have a successful three-point attempt in the first half, but shot 52.2 percent from the field.

Binghamton came out after halftime with an intensity Colgate couldn’t match. In the opening minutes of the second half, Binghamton scored the first four points and looked to be gathering momentum.

That’s when Jon Simon took over. At one point after halftime, Simon scored 12 straight Raider points. Colgate opened up the second half on a 15-4 run. Binghamton was unable to recover from that point on. The Binghamton defense had to begin double-teaming Simon on most of the remaining possessions. This led to open looks for Kyle and Kendall Chones.

Binghamton never allowed Colgate to pull away completely. But overall it was a much better showing for the Colgate offense. Binghamton was only allowing 61.0 points per game and was a top 40 defense last year.