Men’s basketball relies on aggression in CIT win over Fordham

In a close game that could have gone either way, it was the Boston University men’s basketball team that came out victorious, holding on for a 69-66 win at Fordham University in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

In their second CIT appearance since 2013, the Terriers (19-14, 11-7 Patriot League) overcame a tenacious defensive effort from the Rams (17-14) to earn their first postseason win since 2014. Senior guard John Papale came up huge down the stretch, as his sixth 3-pointer of the game gave BU the lead for good with 1:26 left to play. He finished with 22 points on 16 shots, while junior guard Eric Fanning tallied 21 in the winning effort.

“We had an outstanding effort by everyone that played,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “It was great to see. It was really something. I think we can really build off of it as a program. We played our hearts out tonight. It was awesome.”

The game proved to be an even battle from the start, as neither team led by more than six points in the first half. After Fordham grabbed a 24-19 lead with 7:14 left in the period, the Terriers headed into the locker room with a 35-29 lead. Papale sparked the BU run, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to total 14 points in the half.

Also performing well in what could have been his last game as a Terrier was forward Nathan Dieudonne, who pulled down 11 boards in 32 minutes. Jones was pleased with his senior’s leadership throughout the contest.

“The reason why we’ve had success is that we have two guys who lead us,” Jones said. “They lead in different ways, but both guys put winning ahead of everything. It’s the reason why this team has had success.”

One glaring issue in the first half for the Terriers was turnovers. Facing a team ranked 15th in the nation in forced turnovers and playing without starting point guard Kyle Foreman due to injury, BU struggled taking care of the ball, recording 13 turnovers before halftime. However, in the second half, the Terriers did a much better job with offensive efficiency, only turning the ball over seven times.

“Going into this game, we knew we were going to turn the ball over,” Jones said. “The way they play defense, you’re going to turn it over. They literally deny every pass. They trap every ball screen. They’re just so tenacious at half court.”

Jones credited his team’s improvement in the turnover battle to his team’s physical and tough style of play.

“There were some times we had some lazy turnovers, but I thought for the most part, we tried to do a good job of being aggressive,” Jones said. “We had some turnovers through aggression, which wasn’t bad. I thought we kind of played with some aggression all game, and that really helped us on both ends of the floor. We needed to have that mindset playing because of the way they were going to play.”

Despite better control of possession, the game remained competitive, with the score tied at 62 with 1:45 to play. On the next possession, sophomore point guard Eric Johnson found Papale in the corner, who swished a shot from deep for a three point lead.

The Terriers would then force a turnover on the next play, and sophomore guard Cheddi Mosely drew the foul. He hit both free throws to push BU’s lead to five.

The contest got narrowly close with each team draining free throws as time wound down, but with a lead in hand, BU held on during the last possession of the game. Jones’ squad will next play against an undisclosed opponent, and that chance for one more game is a rewarding feeling for the program.

“Right now, we’re just trying to enjoy this,” Jones said. “I want the guys to enjoy the first playoff win that we’ve had here in two years, so it’s a monumental win for a lot of reasons. We want to enjoy tonight and get back tomorrow and go to work. We don’t know who we’re going to play, but we need to come out with that same aggression and passion next time out.”