Just two weeks ago, the Boston University men’s basketball team watched as its season began to fall apart. In the midst of a 23-point embarrassment at the hands of Binghamton University, the team’s fourth loss in five games, it began to seem more and more apparent that this just was not the Terriers’ year.
And then something clicked.
BU caught fire at just the right time, capping off a three-game win streak to end the regular season with a convincing 84-71 victory over the University of Hartford Sunday. In doing so, the Terriers claimed the third seed in next weekend’s America East Conference Tournament and a date with sixth-seeded University of Vermont, turning a potentially disastrous regular season into a marked success.
“They’re playing with more confidence,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “Last year we went in [to the tournament] losing a game. Now we go in winning three, and these guys just want to keep playing.”
They showed it in Hartford yesterday, coming out blazing and never looking back. The Terriers stormed out to a 22-3 lead on the strength of three Corey Hassan 3-pointers and never again let the Hawks closer than nine points, hovering around a 20-point margin for much of the contest.
Hartford tried to make it a game late in the second half, when three straight Paris Carter 3-pointers cut the deficit to single digits for the first time since it was 12-3. But the Terriers responded by hitting 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch to quell the Hawks’ rally and seal the game.
Hassan finished the game with 23 points, including five 3-pointers, to set his second career-high in the span of a week. The freshman swingman also grabbed six rebounds, tying for the team lead with reserve point guard Bryan Geffen.
But Hassan far from stole the show. The freshman’s supporting cast pitched in 38 of the club’s season-high 84 points, including a career-high 18 from Geffen. Geffen was a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the arc, punctuating the team’s sizzling 10-for-21 effort from long range.
“I don’t think were living and dying by the 3-point shot, but if they’re guarding us the way they are we’re going to have some open looks and try and take advantage,” Wolff said.
The hot shooting took pressure off senior co-captain Kevin Gardner, who chipped in 13 points and four rebounds in only 18 minutes of play. Gardner and starting frontcourt-mate Omari Peterkin both played less than half the game, opening the door for reserves Ben Coblyn and Tony Gaffney to score a combined 16 points off the bench.
Collectively, the efforts made up BU’s best offensive showing of the season. The team shot 50 percent from the floor, and all nine active Terriers found their way onto the score sheet, with four in double figures.
“We were able to get out in transition and get some quick baskets,” Wolff told BU Athletics after the game. “I have always said missing shots can be contagious, but today making them was contagious.”
And so was the defense. Despite allowing 21 points and 18 rebounds to conference MVP candidate Kenny Adeleke, the Terriers were able to hold Hartford to just 41.8 percent shooting from the field, including 34.6 percent in a first half that saw the Hawks score only 26 points.
“We didn’t let their other guys get going at all,” Wolff said. “Overall I thought that we had a comfortable lead the entire game, and that’s because of the way our guys played on defense.”
The win gives the Terriers a Saturday game against the Catamounts at the America East Tournament in Binghamton, N.Y. and allows them to avoid playing the top-seeded University at Albany until a potential championship match-up the following Saturday.
Had the Terriers lost today, they would have slipped into a fourth-place tie with the University of New Hampshire, and would have had to play the Wildcats as a five-seed with a potential match against Albany looming the next day.
And though the road to the championship game is now a little less dangerous, the Terriers will still need to navigate past a Vermont team that has given BU fits all year long. Despite winning both games against the Catamounts this season, BU needed last-second heroics from Hassan to escape with a win in the first game and a full effort from a foul-depleted roster to eke out an overtime win in the rematch last week. In both contests, BU let large leads slip away to set up the late-game dramatics.
If they survive Vermont, the Terriers will play the winner of No. 2 Binghamton and No. 7 University of Maine on Sunday. BU split the season series with the Black Bears, but lost twice to Binghamton.