WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — In its first America East postseason bout since it secured the conference championship in 2011, the third-seeded Boston University men’s basketball team saw its title defense stall out early as it fell, 53-49, to sixth-seeded University of Hartford.
Playing in the last of four America East quarterfinal games on Saturday, the Terrier (16-16, 12-5 America East) loss was the only upset of the day and sent the Hawks (9-21, 8-9 America East) to the semifinals against second-seeded University of Vermont on Sunday.
“I thought it was a very physical and hard-fought game,” said BU coach Joe Jones, who finished his first year as Terrier bench boss with the loss. “We are pretty shaken right now by the loss, but a lot of respect for [Hawks coach John] Gallagher and his kids. I thought they played very hard.”
Despite holding a six-point lead at the half, the Terriers succumbed to a late 15-6 Hawk run that turned a five-point lead with 6:14 remaining into a four-point loss. Terrier sophomore guard DJ Irving’s 12 points and five assists complemented senior guard and America East Player of the Year Darryl Partin’s game-high 17 points on 5-of-17 shooting, but the effort was not enough to outdo a double-double by Hawks freshman forward Mark Nwakamma (13 points, 16 rebounds) and a 5-of-10 shooting performance from freshman forward Nate Sikma.
Early in the game and facing a 12-6 deficit, the Terriers went on an 8-0 run capped by a steal by senior guard Matt Griffin and a transition trey. With their lead in hand, the Terriers missed an opportunity to keep the Hawks on the ropes when Sikma buried a long ball of his own.
Although the Terriers earned an overall advantage on the boards at the end of the game, 39-33, they trailed the Hawks 17-16 in the rebounding column at halftime.
The Hawks sparked another run to open the second half, outscoring BU 11-4 in the opening 2:36. Nwakamma sandwiched a layup between two jumpers to contribute six points to the run and quadruple his points total from the first half.
As the Hawks rode Nwakamma’s hot hand, the Terriers sought to find another reliable scorer with Partin and Irving under duress on the offensive end.
Emotions boiled over at the 3:25 mark when senior forward Jeff Pelage dove for a stolen ball and, after passing it up court for a fast break play, was involved in an altercation with seniors Andres Torres and Clayton Brothers. Griffin also joined in the fray to defend Pelage, leading the officials to aggressively separate the opposing players and assess offsetting technical fouls.
The scuffle left both teams testing the referees’ whistles with physical play. The Terriers came out on the wrong side of a penalty situation over the next 3:12, as their five fouls compared to the Hawks’ one in that span landed Partin on the bench with three personals and sent Sikma to the charity stripe.
Partin returned with 11:38 remaining and ended a 2:44 scoreless drought for both teams with a jumper at the 15:46 mark, though it came immediately after he was flagrantly fouled by Sikma on a fast break and missed both of the associated free throws.
Instead of allowing his mistake to doom his team, Sikma singlehandedly cut the Terriers’ lead to one with 2:41 remaining and then tied the contest at 47 apiece with another clutch 3-pointer with 2:09 on the clock.
“In college, you can’t dwell on the past if you make a mistake,” Sikma said. “Right after that foul, I just told myself, ‘Don’t do it again. Just move on. There are more plays to be made.’ My teammates set me up good and I made some shots.”
Partin restored a two-point Terrier lead on free throws, but a Nwakamma 3-point play and then free throws from Brothers and Torres ultimately sealed the win for the Hawks.
Although the Terriers had four possessions in the final 1:10 with the opportunity to tie or take the lead, they committed two turnovers and missed the two shots they did take. Ultimately, a dip in the Terriers’ shooting percentage from 41.7 to 24.1 between halves and a growth in the same statistic for the Hawks from 29.2 to 52.4 was the major shift in momentum that propelled the Hawks to their run in the final minutes of the game.
“Coach has been telling us all year, you have to come out in the second half with a lot of energy, a lot of intensity,” Partin said. “We didn’t, again. So this is on us, the upperclassmen. We’re supposed to get everybody going, and we know we should, but we just didn’t do a good job of that today.”
With the Hartford crowd storming the court as the clock expired, the Terriers were left to slink off of the court and pick up the pieces that were once a promising chance at a postseason run.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Jones said. “Just judging from watching [the Hawks] on film and watching our last contest. We expected a war, and that’s what it was.”
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