January 19, 2025
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Men’s basketball adds eight newcomers

Recruiting class features two international players from Denmark, Netherlands

Men's basketball coach Tommy Dempsey will add eight new players to the team's roster this fall. Men's basketball coach Tommy Dempsey will add eight new players to the team's roster this fall.
Men's basketball coach Tommy Dempsey will add eight new players to the team's roster this fall. Image Credit: Jonathan Cohen.
2 minute read

Binghamton men’s basketball will have a decidedly new look for the 2018-19 season. Seventh-year head coach Tommy Dempsey has finalized his recruiting class and eight newcomers are set to begin their Bearcat careers in the fall.

“With seven graduating seniors leaving the program, this is the first big recruiting class we have had in several years,” Dempsey said. “We have been working as a staff the past two years on this class. We knew how important this class would be to the future of our program and we could not be more excited about this group of young men!”

The class features two Philadelphia-area guards, two international recruits, two 6-foot-8 plus forwards, a graduate school transfer and two walk-ons with ties to the program.

Reporting to campus this summer are freshman Sam Sessoms (Philadelphia, Pa./Shipley HS), freshman Calistus Anyichie (Short Hills, N.J./St. Mary-Assumption HS), freshman Calvin Poulina (Leiden, Netherlands), freshman Michael Besselink (Helsinki, Finland), junior Richard Caldwell (Philadelphia, Pa./Lamar CC, Colo.), graduate forward Chancellor Barnard (Columbia, Md./Loyola Maryland), freshman Carter Stewart (Glenville, N.Y./Mekeel Christian Academy), and freshman Leo Gallagher (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic).

Sessoms is a 6-foot point guard with lofty scholastic credentials. He scored 2,091 career points to become the all-time scoring leader at Shipley. During his senior year, he was named first team all-state in Pennsylvania after averaging 28.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists.

Anyichie, a 6-foot-9 forward, was a team captain and top performer at New Jersey power St. Mary’s- Assumption. He was recognized as one of the state’s top scholar-athletes by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Association.

Poulina and Besselink come to campus with elite international experience. Poulina, a 6-foot-8 forward, was the leading scorer for the Netherlands FIBA U18 team, while Besselink is a 6-foot-6 guard averaged 20.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals for Provoon Tarmo in the Finnish Division 1A league this past season.

Caldwell is a 6-foot-4 junior college transfer who scored 758 points in two seasons (12.6 ppg.) at Lamar Community College. He was a standout guard at Mt. Pleasant High School before attending Lamar.

Barnard is a graduate transfer from Loyola who will finish his career at Binghamton in 2018-19. A 6-foot-4 forward, he played in 91 games over three seasons for the Patriot League Greyhounds, shooting 52 percent. He scored in double figures against the Bearcats in 2016-17. In high school, he was a Washington Post All-Metro selection for Glenelg Country Day School.

Former New York State finals opponents Stewart and Gallagher team up for college when the pair join the program as preferred walk-ons. Stewart is the younger brother of current Bearcat Caleb Stewart. He is a 6-foot-6 guard who was MVP of the state championship game after leading Mekeel Christian Academy to the Class B title. Gallagher led local Seton Catholic to conference and sectional titles before falling to Mekeel in the state championship game. The 5-foot-10 guard was named first team all-state after scoring more than 1,000 career points as a four-year standout for the Saints.

The group of eight newcomers join a Bearcats roster that returns its top two scorers (J.C. Show and Thomas Bruce) and four starters.

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