A 7:45 scoring drought couldn’t stop the Boston University men’s basketball team Saturday at Stony Brook University.
In the absence of leading scorer Corey Lowe (bursitis of the knee), the Terriers (5-12, 2-3 America East) rose to the occasion and erased an 11-point second-half deficit to earn a 59-52 road win over the Seawolves (4-13, 1-4).
Junior co-captain Matt Wolff (season-high 13 points) nailed four 3-pointers in the final 12 minutes of the otherwise low-scoring affair, and the Terriers rode the first double-double of the season from sophomore Scott Brittain (15 points, 10 rebounds) — along with game-changing performances from co-captain Tyler Morris, freshman John Holland and forward Valdas Sirutis — to steal a win from an SBU team that had every opportunity to shut the door.
“I thought that we kind of drew a line in the sand and at least began to take steps to fight back,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “There have been situations where we caved in, and we didn’t.
“I think it speaks a lot to the character of these kids. These kids all are committed and they want to win.”
Matt Wolff’s fourth trey gave the Terriers a 50-45 lead with 4:26 left, and the Seawolves hit just three of their next seven shots (1-of-5 from downtown) — not enough to overcome BU’s late free throws and a timely offensive rebound from Morris.
Morris (season-high 18 points) continued to show that he is returning to the form that earned him America East Rookie of the Year honors last season. The redshirt sophomore guard, who missed the first nine games of the season with a shin injury, scored 14 consecutive points in the first half and hit game-clinching free throws with 24 seconds left while playing 40 minutes.
“I thought Tyler played well,” said Coach Wolff. “He had to play 40 minutes today. I think that was an amazing accomplishment. He got us off to a good start.”
With Lowe day-to-day and second leading scorer Carlos Strong scoreless (0-of-6 from the field), Brittain provided an answer to the Terriers’ season-long rebounding woes, and combined with Holland (3-of-5 from beyond the arc) to score 24 points. But the unheralded hero was Sirutis, who’s impact — including a key assist to Brittain for a second-half jam — went far beyond his two points.
“When somebody tells you’re going to win a game on the road without your two leading scorers, [you’d say], ‘No that didn’t happen,'” coach Wolff said.
After BU’s seven-plus minute scoring drought going into the break, Wolff appealed to his players to play with more confidence. He credited his team for making the necessary adjustments in the second half, billing Saturday as a win the team must build upon.
“The way to build on this is to talk about how hard we played,” Wolff said. “We just got to keep plugging away at this.”
With a game against the conference-leading University of Maryland-Baltimore County (12-7, 4-2) tonight at Case Gymnasium, there’s little time left for talk.