Down 11 points in the second half to St. Peter’s College (6-21) – their first February non-conference opponent in 14 years — the Terriers could have easily flipped on cruise control and taken the easy path home to prepare for Hartford University this Thursday.
Only these Terriers were into doing a little offroading – apart from sophomore Corey Lowe, who again traveled the road along the arc, well-worn by his sneakers and silky shot, setting a BU record for 3-pointers in a season.
After letting a six-point, first-half lead dissolve into an 11-point deficit, the Boston University men’s basketball team (12-15) rallied for an 8-0 run over the final 2:17 to defeat the Peacocks, 67-64, as part of the O’Reilly Bracketbusters Pool.
The story had many characters in familiar places, with Lowe’s complete – and record setting – game (22 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists) keeping the Terriers afloat, sophomore Matt Wolff (5 points, 3 assists) hitting the go-ahead layup with 14 seconds left off an assist from junior Marques Johnson (8 points, 3 assists), and freshman John Holland (18 points, 7 rebounds) converting a one-and-one to sign on the dotted line.
“We didn’t have the same zip,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “We just kept plugging away. Corey made a bunch of big plays that narrowed it.”
With his 6-of-14 performance from downtown, Lowe passed Mark Daly to set the all-time single season 3-pointer record, now at 83 with two games left before the America East Tournament. Two of the treys came as St. Peter’s jumped out to its largest lead of the game.
Countering Lowe’s sweet-shooting was Peacock freshman Wesley Jenkins’ 27 points — every single one of which came from beyond the arc. While impressive, Wolff said the nature of the Peacock lead, built partly on three trey-bombs from Jenkins in the first seven minutes of the second half, led him to believe that the game was still within reach.
“A number of [Jenkins’ 3’s] were guarded,” Wolff said. “I felt we could get back in the game.”
The Jersey City, N.J., site was a bit of a homecoming for Holland — a native of the Bronx, N.Y. Two of St. Peters’ players, starting freshman forward Ryan Bacon (6 points, 3 rebounds) and junior forward Ismaila Traore both attended the same Prep School as Holland, St. Benedict’s Prep. Other than sheer scoring and 4-of-6 shooting from deep, Holland’s three steals — his average over the last seven games (21 over that span) – were a key component in BU’s comeback.
Overcoming a 37.9 shooting percentage and a 38-33 rebounding deficit, the Terrier defense upped the ante when it mattered most, with 11 BU steals contributing to the 19 turnovers committed by St. Peter’s. Sophomore Scott Brittain (14 points, 9 rebounds) also had three steals and two blocks.
The footnote to this late chapter in the season is one that has been written in boldface over every BU win: assist-to-turnover ratio. The Terriers committed just eight turnovers to their 18 assists, a positive margin which has become quite common. Since Jan. 30, the Terriers are 7-1. Since Jan. 30, the Terriers have had a positive assist-to-turnover ration seven times.
With just two conference games remaining – Hartford on Thursday and the University at Albany March 2 – before the America East tournament in Vestal, N.Y., cruise control might as well be duct-taped in the off position.