Entering Saturday afternoon, junior guard Corey Lowe and sophomore forward John Holland were each averaging 18 points per game. They’re the unquestioned scoring leaders of the Boston University men’s basketball team, and in conference play, the duo had been faring even better, with Holland pouring in 22.5 points per contest and Lowe 18.5.
However, against Binghamton University, in one of the most important games in the America East this season, the pair combined for one point less than their individual averages – scoring 17 points on 6-of-24 shooting in a 60-59 loss to the Bearcats that, barring losses in their final three conference games, virtually locked the Terriers into the third seed in the conference.
Binghamton senior guard D.J. Rivera (the conference’s leading scorer) and junior forward Scott Brittain tallied 20 points to lead their respective teams, while Rivera notched his fifth double-double of the season with 12 rebounds. Brittain finished just one board shy, with nine.
Lowe matched his worst shooting performance of the season (2-of-15 from the field, 1-of-9 from 3-point range) and missed two mid-range go-ahead jump shots in the final seven seconds – including one from the foul line that would have won the game at the buzzer.
‘What happened was, when frustration sets in, the way that John and Corey sometimes compensate is they’re trying too hard, and they go from not being able to hit a shot to trying more difficult shots, which kind of goes against logic,’ BU coach Dennis Wolff said.
While Lowe (who turned his ankle early in the second half, but later returned) was able to take a high number of shots, Holland was held under double digits in shot attempts for the first time since conference play began (11 points, 4-of-9 shooting).
‘We were trying to key in on stopping one, but you can’t stop those guys. They stop themselves,’ Binghamton coach Kevin Broadus said of Lowe and Holland. ‘It’s not like we did anything special to stop them. They just had bad games. They’re good enough to play through any kind of defense you throw at them.’
Given the subpar outing by two of the conference’s most talented scorers, as well as the Terriers’ effort in the first half, it’s surprising the game was decided by one point. The Terriers (14-11, 9-4 AE) followed what was one of their worst halves of the season against the University of Vermont (in which they were outscored 25-5 to end the game) with an equally dreadful effort against Binghamton’s fast-paced offense.
BU’s defense was sluggish and rarely got set in transition. That led to a 16-2 rebounding edge in favor of the Bearcats with 7:47 left in the first half and a 37-24 halftime lead.
Conversely, Binghamton (17-8, 10-3) pressured the ball with extreme intensity on the perimeter (perhaps modeling its gameplan after watching a similar scheme bother BU against Vermont three days prior), and it led to the Terriers making 1-of-7 from 3-point range in the first half.
‘It was probably as bad a first half as we’ve played all year,’ Wolff said. ‘We were kind of stuck in the mud going after the ball and back on our heels the whole half. I thought we did a pretty good job of getting ourselves composed at halftime and gradually chipping away at the lead.’
BU’s conscious effort to feed the post against an undersized and undermanned Binghamton lineup – sophomore forward Theo Davis left the team two days prior and sophomore guard Moussa Camara returned to France to mourn a death in the family – helped fuel the comeback.
The Terriers trailed by as many 17 points late in the first half, but slowly chipped away at Binghamton’s advantage and took the lead on Lowe’s only 3-pointer of the game – a 21-footer in front of BU’s bench that resulted in the loudest crowd reaction at Case Gymnasium all season – with 4:53 remaining.
From there, neither side gained more than a two-point advantage, as Holland gave the Terriers the lead on a left-corner trey with 55 seconds left, but Binghamton’s Chretien Lukusa converted a layup on a backdoor cut that ended up being the game-winning basket and clinched the historic victory for Binghamton – the most wins in a season since becoming a Division-I program.
Both of Lowe’s attempts to win the game came from right around the free-throw line. On his final shot, he received the inbounds pass, dribbled to his left, pump faked to get junior guard Emanuel Mayben in the air and got a good look, but it was strong off the backboard.
‘He’s the one guy on the team who can create off the dribble, and we wanted to have the ball in his hands. I thought there was a chance that the guy guarding Brittain might overshow to help compensate, so the play was for Corey and Brittain,’ Wolff said of the final draw-up. ‘I thought Corey was pretty patient. He didn’t fire the thing up and he got pretty close. He just missed it.’
For the majority of the second half, senior forward Matt Wolff sat on the bench in favor of senior guard Marques Johnson. Wolff’s 24 minutes played marks his third-lowest total all season as he’s delivered back-to-back poor performances.
Of the decision to keep Wolff on the bench, Dennis said, ‘I thought MJ had good life, and I thought he was helping us handle the ball. I thought that was the way to go.’
Though the chance for a first-place finish is highly improbable, the most important thing for the Terriers now becomes recovering from a difficult week against the conference’s top teams and, as always, avoiding prolonged fatigue due to relying on a seven-man rotation.
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