UNH's Nick Guadarrama drives to the hoop for two of his team-high 16 points in the Wildcats' win over Binghamton Saturday at Lundholm Gym. (Courtesy photo by China Wong/UNH Athletics)

DURHAM – Senior forward Nick Guadarrama (Newington, Conn.) scored a game-high 16 points to lead the University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team to Saturday afternoon’s 66-62 America East conference victory against Binghamton University at Lundholm Gym.

It was both Senior Day and Alumni Day for the Wildcats, who were a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line in the final 32 seconds to secure the victory.

Guadarrama was also UNH’s leader in rebounds (seven), assists (four) and steals (three). Sophomore guard Marco Foster (Chicago, Ill.) recorded 14 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Sophomore point guard Blondeau Tchoukuiegno (Montreal, Quebec) finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot in playing all 40 minutes. Senior forward Jayden Martinez (Cibolo, Texas), who also played all 40 minutes, scored 10 points and that included making four three throws in the last 32 seconds. Tchoukuiegno made the other two foul shots down the stretch.

Binghamton was led by Christian Hinckson’s double-double of 15 points and 14 rebounds. John McGriff was the Bearcats’ other double-digit scorer with 12 points.

UNH improves to 14-12 overall, 10-3 at home and 9-8 in America East. Binghamton is now 11-15 overall and 8-9 in the conference.

New Hampshire ends the regular season this Tuesday at 7 p.m. at UMass Lowell.

“We played hard,” Guadarrama said. “First half was a little shaky. Second half we really came together and played better defense. They’re a good team but we gutted it out.”

“Every time we came into the huddle, we were just talking to each other ‘Three stops in row. Three stops in a row.’ That was our mentality with those last four minutes. We were just trying to just stop them and keep the ball in our hands as much as possible.

“Our offense has definitely come along (since the beginning of the season),” Guadarrama added. “It’s harder to guard us. We have a lot of weapons out there. I feel like if we just keep playing better defense, better defense then we’ll be putting ourselves in a good spot.”

There were eight ties and six lead changes in the game, and the biggest lead held by either team was eight points.

Trailing 8-7, UNH went on a 9-0 run to build a 16-8 lead. Guadarrama layups at 13:03 and 11:42 sandwiched a three-point play by senior center Tayler Mattos (New London, N.H.) and Tchoukuiegno completed the run with two free throws at 10:24.

Binghamton made a pair of 3-pointers as part of an 8-0 run that tied the game, 16-16, at 7:23.

Foster answered with a 3-ball at the other end of the court to put the Wildcats back in front and spark an 8-0 run that gave UNH a 24-16 lead at 5:07.

The Bearcats scored 10 consecutive points to regain the lead, 26-24, on George Tinsley’s basket at 2:07. The teams exchanged field goals the next three possessions to advance the score to 28-28, and neither team broke that tie in the final minute of the first half.

Binghamton inched ahead, 34-29, on Tinsley’s jumper at 16:44 of the second half.

Fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers by grad student Chris Lester (Barrington, Ill.) and Foster, UNH went on a 10-4 spurt to go back in front, 41-40, at 10:50.

Trailing 45-53, another UNH 3-pointer – this time by Tchoukuiegno – started a 7-0 run that gave the ‘Cats a 50-45 lead at 7:59.

Hinckson hit one foul shot to tie the score, 50-50, at 4:19.

Guadarrama made a layup and then set up a layup by sophomore Nick Johnson (Bronx, N.Y.) to give New Hampshire a 54-50 lead at 3:13. Foster’s fastbreak 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 57-50 with 1:49 remaining.

Tyler Bertram’s 3-pointer from the right wing ended UNH’s run and lifted Binghamton within 57-53 at 1:17, but Foster answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the game to reestablish a seven-point cushion, 60-53, with 54 seconds left.

A majority of the team stats were close. UNH held the edge in rebounds (40-35), second-chance points (15-5), fastbreak points (10-5) and turnovers (12-13). Binghamton had the advantage in field goal percentage (41.4% to 40.0%), 3-point field goal percentage (33.3% to 29.2%), free throw percentage (85.7% to 64.7%) and points in the paint (30-28).

The Bearcats made one more 3-pointer (8-7) but the Wildcats shot 17 free throws (11 made) in comparison to the visitors seven (six made).

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BINGHAMTON 60, UNH 49

Sophomore guard Bella Stuart (Clifton Park, N.Y. of the University of New Hampshire women’s basketball team notched a career-high 26 points as the Wildcats were defeated on the road at Binghamton in the regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Events Center in America East play.

Stuart shot an impressive 10-of-15 from the floor with a career-high seven steals in the losing effort for the ‘Cats. Stuart’s 26 points were the most scored by any Wildcat player on the season.

The Wildcats drop to 7-20 overall (4-12 AE), while Binghamton improves to 8-19 overall (4-13 AE) after the victory.

Senior forward Ivy Gogolin (Hopkinton, Mass.) chipped in with six points, while junior guard Helena Delaruelle (Enghien-les-Bains, France) added five points.

UNH trailed 39-23 at halftime.

The ‘Cats shot an impressive 70% in the fourth quarter on 7-of-10 shooting in the final stanza. UNH owned a 32-30 edge in points in the paint against the Bearcats.

Denai Bowman totaled a team-high 15 points in the win for Binghamton.

The Wildcats will return to action in the America East quarterfinals on Saturday, March 5 with opponent and site to be determined.

MEN’S HOCKEY

MERRIMACK 4, UNH 3

Liam Walsh notched three points on a goal and two assists for the Warriors at the Whittemore Center.

The Wildcats fall to 14-16-1 (8-13-1 Hockey East), while the Warriors improve to 18-12-1 (13-9-0 Hockey East).

Coulton Huard gave UNH a 1-0 first period lead but Merrimack scored four straight before the Wildcats got third period goals from Jackson Pierson and Robert Cronin.

The Wildcats return to action when they conclude the regular season with a home-and-home series versus No. 16 UMass Lowell on Friday and Saturday, March 4-5.