The Boston University men’s basketball team found itself in a 13-0 hole in the opening minutes of its Saturday night contest with Stony Brook University at Pritchard Gymnasium.
The early deficit would prove to be insurmountable.
Despite the return of senior co-captain Tyler Morris (broken right hand) and senior forward Brendan Sullivan (dislocated left shoulder), BU could not overcome its slow start, eventually losing to SBU, 71-55, and suffering its second defeat in as many games.
Morris didn’t score a point in his 23 minutes of action but had four assists, while Sullivan recorded three points in 12 minutes, attempting all three of his shots from 3-point range.
It can be demoralizing for a team to be down by double-digits in the early going, especially on the road, but that was not the case for the Terriers (11-11, 6-4 America East), BU coach Patrick Chambers said.
‘We’re in a tough environment and we’re on the road, it’s hard to come out like that,’ Chambers said. ‘But, for the most part, we kept a good attitude. We cut it to under 10 points. We came out and did some decent things. But, you know, they made shots tonight. We’re just going to watch film [this week] and get better.’
Senior guard Muhammad El-Amin set the pace early, scoring six of the Seawolves’ (15-7, 7-2 AE) first 13 points and finishing with a game-high 19 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Jake O’Brien, who led the Terriers with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting, converted a layup with 15:35 left in the first half that finally put BU on the scoreboard.
‘We have to get off to better starts,’ Chambers said. ‘We started the game off slow. We had to dig ourselves out of a hole. They’re a very good Stony Brook team. They play very physical, they’re tough and they play hard.’
BU went on a 7-0 run in the final minutes of the first session, cutting Stony Brook’s lead to seven, 33-26. The Seawolves then scored six unanswered points to push their advantage back to double-digits. Senior guard Carlos Strong hit a trey to beat the buzzer, and the Terriers headed into the intermission trailing 39-29.
Senior guard Corey Lowe (13 points, 6 assists) and junior forward John Holland (6 points, 2 rebounds) ‘- two of the top four scorers in America East ‘- were nonexistent in this conference matchup, shooting a combined 5-for-21 from the field and turning the ball over nine times.
Similar to the teams’ last meeting on Jan. 2 ‘- an 84-75 Stony Brook victory over BU at Case Gymnasium ‘- the Seawolves neutralized the Terriers’ dynamic duo on the offensive end.
‘[Stony Brook] played very well on ball screens,’ Chambers said. ‘They took [Lowe and Holland] out of their rhythm.’
In a return to his home state of New York, Holland did not come close to matching his season average (18.6 points per game) and went 0-for-1 from beyond the arc. But the junior knows he can do more on the court, even when he’s having an off night, Chambers said.
‘We always preach that there are going to be nights when you’re not making shots but that there are other things you can do,’ Chambers said. ‘You can defend, you can rebound and you can make extra passes. The game of basketball doesn’t just come down to scoring, and John understands that.’
Strong made a layup to close the gap to eight points coming out of the break, but that’s as close as the Terriers would get in the second half. Due in large part to Stony Brook’s four double-figure scorers ‘- El-Amin, junior guard Chris Martin (16 points), sophomore forward Danny Carter (10 points) and freshman guard Marcus Rouse (14 points) ‘- the Seawolves kept distance between themselves and the Terriers to earn their fourth straight victory.
Sophomore forward Tommy Brenton grabbed a game-high 14 boards, as SBU out-rebounded BU, 46-24.
With the win, Stony Brook moved into the top spot of America East, while BU dropped to fourth place in the standings.
‘It’s a crazy league, man,’ Chambers said. ‘Everybody can beat anyone on any given day.’
