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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. – Sophomore forward Mark Nwakamma scored 23 points as the University of Hartford men's basketball team held off the Binghamton Bearcats, 71-68, on Wednesday night at Chase Family Arena in both teams' America East Conference openers.

The Hawks improve to 8-6 on the year while Binghamton, which was paced by the hot right hands of Jimmy Gray, falls to 2-12 overall and 0-1 in the conference. A senior, Gray missed just one of his eight shot attempts and connected on 6-of-7 from beyond the arc to finish with a game-best 24 points.

Nwakamma's third 20+ point game of the season came on an impressive shooting effort from the field. He was on target on 7-of-8 shots, made 2-of-2 from three-point land, and was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Hartford had to dig itself out of a hole early as Binghamton came out of the gates storming, scoring 12 of the first 14 points to take a quick 12-2 advantage six minutes into the game. The Hawks, who missed seven of their first eight shots, clawed back, though, and tied things up at the 9:21 mark.

That 13-3 run featured three three-pointers, one by Nwakamma and back-to-back three-balls from Cooper that brought the Hawks back from behind and knotted up the score at 15-15. Despite getting back in the game, Hartford was unable to claim a lead before the end of the half.

The two teams exchanged threes, with Cooper's third of the evening tying the game up again, this time at 18-18, before the Bearcats scored the next six points of the stanza to go ahead. A pair of free throws by Gray made it a seven point Binghamton advantage before a freebie by Wes Cole followed by another three-pointer by Cooper made it a 26-23 game at the intermission.

The first few minutes of the second half proved to be huge for the Hawks as they came out on a tear, scoring 10 unanswered points to go ahead for the first time at 33-26. Nwakamma sparked the run and kept it going with six more points, all on fast break buckets off Binghamton turnovers.

During that 1:44 span, Hartford's pressure forced four Bearcats' turnovers. Sophomore Yolonzo Moore II capped off the Hawks' spurt with a layup off a Cooper steal to push the lead to seven. The visiting squad, however, refused to roll over as they tied up the game at 41-41 with 11:06 left to play using a 15-8 rally.

From that point on, the Hawks did not relinquish their lead but they allowed the Bearcats to linger and keep the game interesting with a flurry of three pointers. A two possession, Hartford advantage quickly dwindled down to two points before Cole, who missed his first eight shots of the evening, drained a huge three with 25 seconds remaining, making the score 67-62.

After Cole's big trey, Binghamton missed a deep three with 13 ticks remaining and was forced to foul. Cole again was clutch, making both free throws, but the game was not over as Gray buried a three-pointer with eight seconds left. The Hawks were again sent to the line, but came up empty on both attempts, allowing Rayner Moquete to make it a one-point game at 69-68 with 2.7 left on the clock.

The Hawks were able to seal the game at the free throw line as Moore made a pair of free throws with 0.5 seconds remaining.

Hartford forced 22 Binghamton turnovers and committed just 10 of their own, a season-low. Twenty-one of Hartford's points were off of those Bearcats' miscues. Hartford won the battle of the boards, 33-30, with 16 coming off the offensive glass. Despite finishing with 10 three-pointers, the Hawks needed a season-high 38 attempts to reach that mark and shot just 26.3% from downtown.

Cooper finished with 15 points after shooting 4-of-8 (50%) from three-point land. Nate Sikma, a sophomore, recorded a career-high in steals with five while classmate Corban Wroe handed out a personal-best four assists.

The Hawks next have a road date with their league rivals, Boston University, on Sat., Jan. 5. Game time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.