After leading by as many as 16 points early in the second half, the Boston University men’s basketball team survived a 64-60 nail-biter against Loyola University Maryland Thursday night.
“We had lost in the first round two years in a row,” said BU head coach Joe Jones. “That’s all weighing on your head. No matter what you want to say, that’s in the back of your mind.”
Despite the results of the past two seasons, the Terriers (18-13, 12-6 Patriot League) had a jumpstart in the first half, when they contained Loyola (15-16, 8-10 Patriot League) to just 22 points and 7-22 shooting from the field while scoring 35 points of their own.
“I told our guys that if we win this, we’re going to win this ugly, and we’ve got to be able to play through some bad possessions at times and some mistakes we make, but it’s going to be ugly,” Jones said.
Ugly was what Jones wanted, and that’s exactly what he got. BU grinded down low, going 11-14 on its 2-point attempts in the first half.
The Terriers continued to dominate inside through the rest of the game, finishing with 19-24 shooting from inside the 3-point line and scoring 36 points in the paint.
On defense, the Terriers controlled the Greyhounds’ offense with its suffocating press, forcing 11 turnovers in the first half. Leading the press was junior guard Cedric Hankerson, who was all over the floor the entire night despite suffering an injury.
“Cedric Hankerson tweaked his knee in practice on Tuesday,” Jones said. “He didn’t practice yesterday, had to get an MRI, and came out, played his tail off and really gave us the lift right away.”
Jones’ praise continued to the rest of the team.
“We’ve just got great leadership,” Jones said. “I told our guys we have a lot of the right pieces in terms of guys that have really sacrificed for each other. Our culture’s really good right now. This is the best it’s been since I’ve been here. It’s a lot of guys that have been contributing to us having success.”
Despite controlling the first half, the game finished close, as BU barely survived the second half, when Loyola gained control of the momentum.
“I thought the game was going to be a close game down the stretch,” Jones said. “It’s a basketball game. You’ve got the lead. You’re trying to hold onto the lead. They’re being more aggressive. The game can turn that way, if you don’t blow them out. That’s kind of what happened.”
After a quiet first half, guard and First-Team All-Patriot League honoree Andre Walker exploded with 20 points. Freshman Andrew Kostecka contributed with eight points and two 3-pointers.
“Walker and Kostecka – those guys made threes and those are the only two that we talked about guarding from three,” Jones said. “They hit five in the second half. I thought we did a really lousy job of getting out to [defend] them.”
The momentum almost completely shifted to Loyola when forward Cam Gregory threw down a thunderous dunk with 14:38 to go, but BU responded, as sophomore guard Kyle Foreman had two steals in consecutive possessions.
The Greyhounds persisted and won the second half 38-29. They forced 11 second-half turnovers, giving BU a taste of its own medicine.
“We had some sloppy offensive possessions — 18 turnovers,” Jones said. “It is what it is.”
The Terriers endured and won the game, but to continue its journey in the tournament, they will need to improve on all fronts.
“We’re going to have to play much better than we did tonight, and I think we will,” Jones said. “You get past this one, and now you’ve got to get ready for the next one, and I think we’ll play much better in the next game.”
