The Stony Brook men’s basketball team (20-8, 14-2) will play its first game of the America East Men’s Basketball Championship on Saturday against the Binghamton University Bearcats (2-28, 1-15). It will be the opening game of the tournament for Stony Brook and the second game for Binghamton, who defeated the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Thursday evening.

Who: (#1) Stony Brook University (20-8, 14-2) vs. (#9) Binghamton University (2-28, 1-15).

When/Where: 12 p.m. Saturday, March 3 at Chase Arena in West Hartford, Conn.

Watch/Listen: Live video broadcast at AmericaEast.com; live audio on WUSB 90.1 FM

Last Time Out: Stony Brook won its season finale against the University of Maine last Sunday, 55-48. It was the team’s 11th victory in 12 games and its 14th consecutive home victory. Senior forward Dallis Joyner had a game-high 12 points.

The Bearcats lost 26 straight games this season before they had a surprising victory over the second-seeded University of Vermont Catamounts (20-11, 13-3) in their second-to-last game of the season. Vermont’s downfall that day, despite its victory in its last game of the season, meant that Stony Brook finished with the lead in the conference by one game. In Thursday’s first-round game, Binghamton beat UMBC for the right to play Stony Brook.

Key Players: Stony Brook: Junior forward Tommy Brenton, senior guard Bryan Dougher and senior forward Dallis Joyner.

Binghamton: Freshman forward Ben Dickinson, freshman Chris Longoria and junior guard Jimmy Gray.

Game Notes: This is the 54th time that the two teams have met but the first time that they meet in the conference tournament. Stony Brook has a narrow lead in those games, 28-25, winning the last three games. Even though Binghamton’s offense was last in the league this year (56.5 points per game), the Bearcats have been able to hang around in most of their games.

Stony Brook won the first game of the season-series handly with a shooting percentage of 56 percent and Division I record 14 three point shots. The Seawolves took the game 82-48. In Binghamton, Stony Brook trailed most of the first half but was able to turn the game around and win, 60-54.

Brenton has a strong history against Binghamton, averaging 9.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists and shooting 73 percent from the field and 55 percent from the free-throw line.

Keys of the Game:

Bryan Dougher has to be a floor leader: When Bryan’s on, the rest of the team benefits. Dougher has established himself as force of stability for Stony Brook, giving the offense flow on every possession. Stony Brook’s game in the paint and around the three-point arc requires a fluent passing game and a point guard to make that passing game a reality.

Don’t underestimate the Bearcats: Everyone knows about Binghamton’s earlier failures, but the Bearcats have gained a degree of confidence after their win against Vermont near the end of the season and UMBC on Thursday. On any given day, any team can beat another one. Binghamton proved that against Vermont.

Win the paint: The Seawolves are best able to win when they make high-percentage shots and get rebounds to maintain possession of the ball. Crucial to this effort are Brenton and Joyner, who together average for about 14.3 of Stony Brook’s 37.2 rebounds. And with Binghamton’s Ben Dickinson to deal with, the two will have their hands full.