Ahead by 10 points at halftime, the Boston University men’s basketball team survived a series of attacks from the University of Hartford in the second half to win its final regular season game of the year on Saturday, 64-55.
The Hawks (8-21, 7-9 America East) built a four-point lead during a slow beginning, but the Terriers (16-15, 12-4 America East) brought the game close midway through the first half.
A jumper from freshman guard Zach Chionuma put the Terriers ahead 20-18 with 4:56 left in the half. The basket began a 13-3 run for BU, a run that closed out the first half of Senior Day.
The lead did not mean BU had won the game yet. Hartford responded to end the first by putting 11 points on the board, answered only by one 3-pointer from sophomore forward Travis Robinson.
The Terriers survived another Hartford charge midway through the latter portion of the second half, and they forced four turnovers in the final minute to prevent the Hawks from swooping in for the win. Hartford, however, would end up outscoring BU in the second half by one point, 34-33
“Well, it wasn’t pretty, by any stretch,” said BU coach Joe Jones at the beginning of his post-game press conference after emitting a few groans while looking at the stat sheet.
Both teams finished with 18 total fouls, led by Hartford forward Mark Nwakamma with five. Though 16 other players between the two teams would be whistled for an infraction, no other would have more than three.
Despite the four final turnovers, the Terriers still gave the ball to the Hawks without scoring a basket 20 times, the most since their second game of the season at the University of Texas when they turned the ball over 24 times. Hartford also had 14 turnovers, half of which originated from senior guard Andres Torres.
“I think 20 has been the most we’ve had – wow, maybe since the beginning of the year,” Jones said. “I can’t remember the last time we had 20 turnovers.”
Senior guard Darryl Partin had a game-high 21 points on 7-for-16 shooting. Partin was the only Terrier in double digits for points, with Robinson and senior guard Matt Griffin the closest scorers behind him at eight points each.
Partin and Griffin were also two of the Terriers’ three leading rebounders, along with sophomore forward Malik Thomas. All three had five boards apiece, with Partin leading the team with three offensive rebounds and Griffin leading the Terriers with four defensive rebounds.
Griffin had five assists with sophomore guard D.J. Irving right behind him at four.
“I thought [Griffin] played great,” Jones said. “D.J. got the two fouls in the first half and, you know, Matt just came in and did a terrific job of running the offense, making really good decisions. I thought he was terrific, especially in the first half.”
Overall, BU out-rebounded Hartford 37-18. The Terriers grabbed 13 offensive and 24 defensive boards to the Hawks’ 14 defensive and only four offensive rebounds.
“There are some games where we haven’t done a good job, but tonight I think we did a great job of rebounding,” Jones said. “Right from the start of the game I thought our guys went to the glass really hard. That’s gonna be something, if we’re gonna make a run next week, that’s gonna be important.”
The America East regular season officially ended on Sunday, with the final game serving as a prelude to next weekend’s conference tournament when both teams will meet again in Hartford in the quarterfinals. BU will have the third seed in the competition, behind Stony Brook University and the University of Vermont, while Hartford will be the sixth seed.
Hartford coach John Gallagher said he does not think the two squads playing one another so close will have much of an effect.
“We all know each other so well,” Gallagher said.
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