When the Boston University and the University of New Hampshire men’s basketball teams last met, the game came down to the final seconds of regulation, with the Terriers eking out a 52-50 win.
Things were not much different Wednesday night at Case Gymnasium when BU and UNH came down to the final possession once again. This time, however, the victor was different, as the Wildcats topped the Terriers 56-54, their first win at BU since 1994.
“[It was a] carbon-copy of the first game,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “Except we were on the wrong end this time.”
The Terriers (14-14, 10-4 America East) rallied from a six-point deficit in the first half to take the lead 2:48 into the second. However, New Hampshire (11-14, 6-8 America East) kept attacking BU’s marginal advantage and never allowed it to take a lead of more than four points.
With 9:31 remaining, a layup from UNH forward Ferg Myrick tied the contest for the eighth time. After red shirt freshman guard Malik Thomas missed a 3-pointer for BU, Myrick dropped a trey of his own for the Wildcats with 7:38 remaining, giving UNH the lead.
UNH extended that lead to as many as six points, but BU attempted to wrestle it away down the stretch. Sophomore guard D.J. Irving made a layup for the Terriers with 44 seconds left to put BU within two. Then, sophomore forward Dom Morris picked up a rebound off of a missed free throw from UNH guard Chandler Rhoads with 22 seconds remaining, giving BU a chance to tie – or even win – the game.
Coming out of a timeout, however, the Terriers failed to find any open looks and Irving missed a jumper with only two seconds left on the clock that would have sent the game to overtime.
“We were trying to clear out the side, let D.J. refuse the ball screen on the side and drive,” Jones said of the Terriers’ final play. “He ended up using [the ball screen] instead, and the [defender] ended up staying in front of him instead, and it was just good defense.”
UNH grabbed the rebound off of Irving’s shot, missed a free throw, and walked off the court in celebration after upsetting one of the top teams in the America East Conference.
The three Thomas missed in the games’ waning moments was one of nine BU missed in the second half and 20 the Terriers missed overall. Only senior guard Matt Griffin and sophomore forward Dom Morris completed a basket worth three points for BU, and each of them only had one.
“I thought we ended up settling for threes,” Jones said. “I thought [UNH] did a good job taking some things away, but then we ended up settling for threes.”
Senior guard Darryl Partin led BU with 20 points, while Morris was right behind him with 17, a season-high. Morris also lead BU in all rebounding categories, with five offensive and seven defensive boards. Irving had only two points, but contributed eight assists to the Terriers’ offense.
“He had eight assists tonight, but offensively we just need more out of him,” Jones said of Irving’s performance.
Senior forward Pat Hazel started the game for BU, but played only seven minutes due to injury. Hazel hurt his knee in last week’s win against the University of Maine and Jones said Hazel is “not 100-percent.” Thomas took over some of Hazel’s workload, recording all three of BU’s blocks in his 30 minutes on the court.
Myrick lead the Wildcats with 15 points, scoring eight in one of the only runs of the game. UNH guards Chandler Rhoads and Alvin Abreu had ten points apiece, while forward Brian Benson led UNH in rebounding with three offensive and six defensive grabs.
Overall, the Wildcats were out-rebounded by the Terriers, 38-28.
With just a few weeks left in the regular season and the conference tournament right around the corner, Jones said his team needs to continue to improve.
“In every game we’ve got to learn and get better,” Jones said. “I’m disappointed we lost the game. I’m disappointed in our defense tonight. I thought our guys really worked hard. I thought there were some positives in the game. At this point in the year, you really just have to keep trying to get better. I don’t know if you can really dwell on any one game right now.”
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