VIDEO: NJIT Highlights

NEWARK, NJ - The NJIT men's basketball team was defeated 76-63 by Binghamton on Saturday in the first of two America East contests this weekend at the Wellness and Events Center.

Binghamton (3-13, 3-10 America East) came out of the gates on fire, scoring the first six points of the game on a pair of Tyler Bertram three-pointers and jumped out to a 14-2 lead over the Highlanders (7-10, 6-9 America East) just over four minutes into the game. 

A Diego Willis layup cut the margin to eight with 12:51 to play in the first half, but the Bearcats answered with a 13-3 run to increase their lead to 18, 33-15, three minutes later. 

NJIT was able to cut into the Binghamton lead and trailed by just 10, 40-30, at halftime, despite Binghamton shooting 53.8% (7-of-13) from three-point range led by Bertram's four triples. 

The Bearcats picked up where they left off in the first half, scoring the first seven points of the second half to quickly jump out to a 17-point advantage.

The Binghamton lead grew to as many as 22 midway through the second half before a late NJIT run made the final margin 13, 76-63.

For the game, Binghamton shot an impressive 56.9% (29-of-51) from the field and 45.8% (11-of-24) from three-point range, while NJIT was just 36.1% overall and 23.3% from deep.

Zach Cooks was once again a bright spot for the Highlanders, scoring a game-high and season-high-tying 25 points and recording four steals. Cooks is averaging 21.8 ppg over his last five games and now has 1,742 points for his career, which ranks sixth in program history and second in the Division I era.

Redshirt freshman Jason Murphy, who came into Saturday's game with just four career points, scored 10 for NJIT, while pulling down a game-high seven rebounds. Murphy played 29 minutes as the top two centers on the Highlanders depth chart missed the contest.

Bertram scored 16 points to lead Binghamton, while Dan Petcash (14 points) and Bryce Beamer (12 points) also finished in double figures. 

The squads will both wrap up their regular seasons on Sunday back at the WEC. Tip-off is slated for 3pm.

Seedings for the Hercrules Tire America East Championship will be announced following Sunday's contest.