WEST HARTFORD, CONN. – The University of New Hampshire men’s basketball team is not, by any stretch of the imagination, an offensive juggernaut of the America East Conference.
Rather, the Wildcats (12-18, 6-10 AE) have earned their wins all season long because of a stifling defense, a knack for rebounding, and strong, physical play. Despite the fact that they only garnered the number-seven seed for the AE tournament, their physicality alone made them one of the toughest opponents to draw for the quarterfinals.
But in defiant fashion, the Boston University men’s basketball team beat them at their own game on Saturday night, snagging a hard-fought 69-60 victory to advance to the semifinals of the tournament to take place on Sunday at 7:30 pm.
“I was proud of [my players],” BU head coach Patrick Chambers said. “We definitely ground it out and did a pretty good job down the stretch.”
The Terriers (19-13, 13-4 AE) were led offensively by senior forward John Holland, who scored a game-high 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting in his first game back from an ankle sprain suffered against Binghamton University on February 24.
BU had four other players with eight or more points, with junior guard Darryl Partin and freshman guard DJ Irving each contributing 11. Junior forward Patrick Hazel and junior guard Matt Griffin each had nine, and freshman forward Dom Morris got eight.
The Terriers looked rusty at best coming out of the gate, submitting to an early Wildcat run and falling behind12-3 at the 5:13 mark. Freshman guard Jordon Bronner was tearing the Terrier defense to shreds, scoring seven straight points leading up to the 12-3 lead and a time out called by Chambers.
“I just said, ‘guys, it’s okay. We’re fine,’” Chambers said when asked about his words to his players going into the time out. “I use the term ‘attitude’ all of the time. We came out and were a little timid. It’s our first tournament game for a lot of guys, other than John Holland, and it was his first game in a week.
“So, I just said, ‘think positive. Everything is fine. Just keep defending. Keep rebounding. Shots will fall. And, stop looking at the scoreboard. I caught a lot of our guys looking at the scoreboard. And if you start looking at the scoreboard, that starts getting in your head. You stop defending and rebounding, and that rim starts to shrink just a little bit.”
It seems that the Terriers heard their coach loud and clear. BU went on a 26-9 run over the next 12:29 to capture their largest lead of the half at 29-21. UNH climbed back in with a Bronner trey and a senior forward James Valladares buzzer-beating triple from the right corner.
The Terriers did not allow the Wildcats to carry their momentum into the second half, as they allowed their lead to shrink to one at the 5:01 mark, but never relinquished it.
In one key stretch, the Terriers found themselves clinging to a three-point lead with 7:18 left to play, but three made free throws by Partin and one by Hazel that resulted from tough drives in the paint put them up seven with 5:27 to go. Senior center Dane DiLiegro picked up his third and fourth fouls on the plays and put UNH head coach Bill Herrion in a tight spot regarding the big man who had been an asset on the boards all game long.
“I think the thing that has changed with [the Terriers over the course of the year] is that earlier in the year they were shooting a lot of 3s,” Herrion said. “They’ve cut back on the 3s and their offense is much more balanced and spread. The stat that is really jumping off of the [end of game stat sheet] is the ability to go to the free throw line. If you can get to the free throw line in basketball, it is a heck of an advantage.”
BU went 20-of-30 from the charity stripe over the course of the game compared to the Wildcats’ 7-of-14 mark.
With a six-point lead and 56 seconds remaining in the game, Holland put the game away by driving the lane after a missed jumper by Partin, grabbing the rebound, and slamming it home for the two-handed jam and a comfortable eight-point lead.
In the end, the Terriers outscored the Wildcats 38-18 in the paint and took home a 38-32 advantage in the battle of the boards. BU out-pursued UNH to a majority of the loose balls to be had, out-doing the Wildcats at their own game.
Hazel led the Terriers on the defensive end with 10 rebounds and two blocks.
Bronner finished with 13 points, sophomore guard Chandler Rhoads scored 15, and senior guard Tyrone Conley contributed a team-leading 16 for UNH.
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