Binghamton University Men's basketball is back and we are loving it. But before we get to that, let's look back to the beginning. Did you know that the Binghamton University Bearcats were once known as the Colonials?

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When the school was first opened in 1946, it was called the Triple Cities College of Syracuse University. For 76 years, Binghamton University has been a well-known name in college basketball.

From 1946 to 1998, they were part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a Division III basketball program, and then from 1998 to 2001, the men's basketball team was a Division II program, no other college basketball team elevated divisions faster.

They are now a Division I team in the America East and reached the NCAA March Madness tournament in 2009 and lost to the Duke Blue Devils. Anyone that was following the team back then knows what happened next.

Binghamton Bearcats Break Losing Streak Against Hartford

They've been struggling for the past 10 years but they are back and Monday night's game (January 24th) is a good example of that. They were trailing Hartford by 19 points in the first half but a 25-1 second-half run propelled the team to a 74-64 Bearcat win. It was their first win over the Hawks in the last 5 years.

Head coach Levell Sanders told a reporter for Binghamton University, "We challenged the guys and they started getting stops and that helped generate our offense by getting out and playing faster."

Sanders continued, "It's a game of two halves and we turned it around as a team. We tell them we need to do this together and once again, the guys who played tonight all contributed. We played hard and with intensity."

Binghamton Bearcats Schedule

Binghamton is currently third in the America East Divison, only a half-game behind Stony Brook and two in back of the division leader Vermont Catamounts. The Bearcats take on the Hawks again tonight in Hartford and you can hear the game on Newsradio 1290 or 92.1 FM.

They'll be back home at the Events Center on Saturday, January 29th when they'll take on the UMBC Retrievers. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.

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