UAlbany opens America East play with road victory
Vestal
Not often can a basketball team allow an opposing player to score 22 points and still applaud its defensive effort.
The University at Albany, and in particular Malachi de Sousa and Antonio Rizzuto, could take a bow Saturday afternoon.
UAlbany opened its America East schedule with a 74-62 road victory over Binghamton, and the key was keeping the Bearcats' best player, Sam Sessoms, in check.
Sessoms, the conference's reigning Rookie of the Year, got 10 of his points in the final 51/2 minutes, when the Great Danes (8-8, 1-0) pretty much had the game under control.
"They played good defense," said Sessoms, who scored only 20 points on 7-for-26 shooting in two meetings last season. "They stuck to their game plan as far as making it tough for me and keeping the ball out of my hands."
While passing his season average of 19.0 points, Sessoms needed a couple of NBA-length 3-point field goals and 16 total attempts to get his 22.
"We tried to keep Rizzuto or de Sousa on him at all times," UAlbany coach Will Brown said. "I tried my best, if those two guys were in the game together, to get one guy off of him and one guy on. Not that they can rest on defense, but they didn't have to exert so much energy going at Sessoms."
"He's a great player," Rizzuto said. "We did the best we could. Malachi and I switched off and on throughout the game. It was more than just me and him. Every time he drove, teammates had our backs."
The game matched the best freshmen from last year — and likely the top two sophomores — in the conference in Sessoms and Cameron Healy, who scored 17 points and had six rebounds.
There was even some friendly chatter between Sessoms and Healy during the game.
"It's just mutual respect," Healy said. "He's doing big things this year, and I see that."
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