While the snow fell all over New England this weekend, it was raining in New York.
Raining threes, that is.
The Boston University men’s basketball team drained 13 shots from behind the three-point arc yesterday in an 85-82 victory at the University of Binghamton.
Everyone got into the act, including inside threats like sophomore Rashad Bell and junior Ryan Butt, who dropped three shots each from downtown. The Terriers (14-7, 9-1 America East) finished the first half with an outstanding 8-12 mark from three-point land, and finished the game 13 for 22. The performance fell one shy of the team’s season record of 14, set in an 84-69 win over Florida State in January.
Twice in the first half, BU players drained three threes in a row to help the Terriers pull to leads of nine and 14 points. While the BU lead grew to as large as 20 in the first stanza, the Bearcats (11-10, 6-5 America East) made a 7-0 run in the closing minutes to cut the halftime deficit to 13.
The halftime break did not do much to stop the bleeding for BU, as Binghamton began the second half with another 7-0 run to cut the Terriers’ lead to 41-35. After a three by senior Billy Collins, the Terriers seemed to regain some semblance of control and quieted the raucous crowd of 2,675 that filled Binghamton’s West Gymnasium. This was essentially the biggest game of the year for the Bearcats, who are ineligible for the America East or NCAA Tournaments because this is only their second season in Division I basketball.
‘I’ve said this consistently from the beginning of the year, we’ve taken these guys to a lot of tough places, we’ve gotten some good experiences,’ said BU coach Dennis Wolff. ‘I don’t think we’re going to go anywhere where the atmosphere is going to rattle us.’
While the Collins three quieted the Bearcat faithful, it would not be the last time they made noise. Just seconds later, Binghamton’s Anthony Green set his feet from what might as well have been another area code and dropped a three of his own. After two Bell free throws, he dropped another one. This time from even farther out.
With the Terrier lead whittled down to three, Butt came to the rescue with a three of his own, ending the downtown exchange for the time being and pushing the lead back up to six at 53-47.
‘They made a real big deal about how this game was their NCAA game and that kind of stuff,’ Wolff said. ‘So I anticipated them trying to make plays. As we have on a lot of other occasions with this group of kids, we showed very good poise and composure when we needed to.’
Butt, who scored 16 of his game-high 18 in the second half, made his living on the outside all afternoon, partially because he has the touch to do so, and partially because he was being guarded by 7-foot Bearcat center Nick Billings.
Billings, who finished the day with 10 blocks to add to his conference-leading total of 92, rejected anything that came his way. From sophomore guard Chaz Carr, to Collins, to junior guard Matt Turner. Butt found the answer the ‘Alaskan Assassin’ however, drawing Billings outside with his range, and in turn, giving his teammates some room inside. Away from the bump and grind of the post game, Butt was a sparkling seven for 10 from the floor.
‘I don’t know how much he forced us outside,’ Wolff said. ‘I know he got 10 blocks, but when we watched the tape on the bus, at least three of them were fouls clearly. Ryan presents as big a problem for that kid as that kid presented for us. He’s got to come away from the basket and guard Ryan, and Ryan is very clever and he shoots the ball from three, so Ryan played a terrific game.’
‘I thought our guys played very intelligently on offense and took what was there.’
Minutes after another Butt three pushed the Terriers to a 64-51 lead, yet another Binghamton run cut the deficit to six. With just under 3:30 left, and the Terriers trying to simply run clock, it looked like they were going to hand Binghamton the ball.
After a surprisingly quick three-point attempt by senior Paul Seymour hit hard off the rim, the ball was tipped around in the frontcourt. When the ball bounced into the hands of junior Jason Grochowalski, he tossed it to Collins, wide open on the wing. Instead of running down the newly restarted 35-second clock, Collins tossed up a three.
And to no one’s surprise, with the way the Terriers were shooting from downtown, it swished through the net for a nine-point BU lead.
With a 10-point lead with 58 seconds remaining, things began to unravel as the feisty Bearcats did not let up.
Binghamton jumper eight-point lead. Billings steal and jumper six-point lead. Two Carr free throws back to eight. Binghamton layup Six-point lead. Another Binghamton steal and layup four-point lead.
All in a span of 36 seconds.
After two Seymour free throws again pushed the BU lead to six, Binghamton’s Billy Williams hit another three to make the score 85-82 with three seconds left. After the inbound, Carr went to the free throw line needing just one to put BU up four and finish the game. Both shots clanked off the rim, but the Bearcats were unable to get a game-tying shot off.
Six Terriers finished in double figures, including Butt, Bell, Collins, Seymour, Carr and Turner. The Terriers will stay in New York for a game against the University of Stony Brook on Tuesday. BU defeated the Seawolves 81-66 just under a month ago at Case Gym.
‘I feel like they’re playing pretty well, they had won four or five in a row, they had a tough game with Vermont yesterday, and they’re extremely well-coached team,’ Wolff said. ‘We’re going to have to play well to win, but I also think these guys, our guys, are very in tune with what’s ahead of us. So as I’ve said all along, we won this game today, we’re going to spend tomorrow preparing for the game on Tuesday and give it our best shot.’