All season long, the Boston University men’s basketball team has had difficulty maintaining big leads, routinely allowing opponents to make second-half runs to get back into games. On Saturday, in front of 1,515 fans at Case Gymnasium, it finally caught up to the Terriers who blew a 16-point second half lead to Northeastern University, eventually losing, 72-69.
Freshman guard Jose Juan Barea hit a deep 3-pointer for the Huskies with 35 seconds left that broke a 65-65 tie and gave the Terriers (11-7, 6-1 America East) one last chance. With the shot clock turned off, Terrier guard Matt Turner failed to connect on a shot from the top of the key and the teams traded layups and free throws until time ran out.
Sloppy play in the second half by BU paved the way for the Northeastern (9-10, 2-4 America East) comeback. BU coach Dennis Wolff said the team was ‘making some of the worst decisions we’ve made all year.’
The Terriers got off to a good start, jumping out to a 14-7 lead after junior forward Jason Grochowalski hit a turnaround jumper. Junior forward Billy Collins led the way, scoring seven points during the run, including a one-handed tip for the first basket of the game.
The Terriers repeatedly attacked the basket, with Collins, Turner and sophomore forward Rashad Bell doing most of the damage. BU capped a 7-0 run when Turner beat his defender to get an easy layup, putting the Terriers in front 21-10. The aggressive play by Collins and Bell earned the tandem a combined 15 trips to the charity stripe.
Bell had a spectacular play after grabbing an offensive rebound and hitting a layup and free throw to give the Terriers a 35-24 advantage. On the other end of the court, the Northeastern forward Sylbrin Robinson beat Bell twice in a row with clever post moves, cutting the Terrier lead down to 35-28, but Bell answered with another 3-point play and the Terriers lead by 10 at halftime, 38-28.
Bell had 12 of his career-high 24 points at the half and was the only player on the court to enter the break with over eight points. Wolff saw Bell’s performance as one of the few bright spots of the game for the Terriers, saying simply, ‘Rashad Bell played a very good game.’
The Terriers reached their biggest lead of the game, 46-30, with 16:30 left. Over the next 10 minutes, however, the Huskies went on a 30-10 run, culminating with four straight points from Barea, giving Northeastern a 60-56 lead.
Bell then brought the Terrier fans to their feet when he dunked home an errant shot to cut lead down to 60-58. The Terriers continued to work the ball inside to Bell, and after scoring on two straight possessions, he gave BU its last lead of the game, 64-63.
Wolff wanted Bell to have the ball down the stretch, especially after the success he had been having against the Northeastern defense. Also, Bell has proven time and time again that he is capable of knocking down clutch free throws; he was six-for-six on Saturday.
‘We wanted to go to the basket,’ Wolff said of his last minute strategy.
With the scored tied at 65, Barea brought the ball down the court and let time tick off the clock as the Husky offense set up its play. Barea then dribbled around a screen set at the top of the key and knocked down the shot in front of a late-reacting Terrier defender.
‘We were switching,’ Wolff said of the play, ‘The guy we were hoping to switch out didn’t get there in time.’
Barea was a difficult challenge for the Terrier guards. Sophomore Chaz Carr had the toughest time, fouling out while playing only 18 minutes. Defense wasn’t the only area in which the BU backcourt struggled, as Carr and Turner combined to shoot 4-19.
‘We’re not going to win very many games with our two starting guards being 4-19,’ Wolff said.
The Terriers never recovered from the Barea three, and lost a hard-fought game to their cross-town rival.
‘They kept making plays and, as has been our habit, we lost our focus,’ Wolff added. ‘They deserved to win the game; I thought their kids played with a lot of courage.’
The loss was the first for BU in conference play this year, but the Terriers still remain in sole possession of first place thanks to a University of Vermont loss at home to the University of Hartford.
Up next, the Terriers head to Orono, Maine to face the University of Maine Black Bears. Wolff isn’t worried about picking it up for the trip north.
‘[I’m not worried] at all,’ Wolff said, ‘We’ve got good kids on this team, and we’ve got a good team.’