NEW YORK — Flashback to Wednesday, Dec. 6, when Boston University inbounded the ball with the shot clock unplugged and a chance to steal a victory from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst under the bright lights of Agganis Arena.

Men’s basketball coach Dennis Wolff called a timeout with 4.2 seconds remaining because the designed play broke down. Only redshirt sophomore Tyler Morris didn’t hear the whistle and nailed the would-be game-winning 3-pointer. The Terriers lost the game, 56-54.

Last night, in BU’s first-ever appearance at Madison Square Garden in the Aeropostale Holiday Festival, the Terriers found themselves in a similar situation — gaining possession with 17 seconds left, trailing by one. Last night, Wolff didn’t call that timeout and it almost paid off.

Despite Wolff’s confidence in his team under the even brighter lights of MSG, senior co-captain Omari Peterkin’s last-second hook shot — which he had been successful in converting throughout the game — hung on the front of the rim before falling out, handing the Terriers (3-7) their third straight loss. Conversely, the 45-44 overtime triumph in front of a crowd of 10,613 helped St. John’s University (9-3) extend its longest winning streak since 2002 to seven games.

“It was a very hard-fought game from our standpoint,” Wolff said. “I think both St. John’s and us should have been better on offense. Tyler [Morris] hit a 3-pointer that went in-and-out in overtime that would have put us up five. These games come down to a few plays, and we just didn’t get the bounces at opportune times.”

With 20.6 seconds remaining in regulation and the Terriers trailing by two, Morris (8 points) drew a foul and nailed both of his high-pressure, high-reward free throws to tie the game. On the Red Storm’s ensuing possession, BU, as it had been doing all night, placed exceptional defensive pressure on St. John’s and forced guard Avery Patterson (16 points) to miss from 15 feet. However, 6-foot-5 forward Lamont Hamilton (9), pulled down the rebound and got fouled with 2.2 seconds left.

Calling a timeout before the free throws, BU did its best to “ice” Hamilton — a 70.2 percent shooter from the charity stripe on the season — and it worked. There’s been no shortage of improbable occurrences at the Garden over the past week and a half, and last night was no exception. Hamilton missed both shots as a group of about 20 BU fans consolidated into a massive blob stationed in the purple seats in MSG’s upper deck. The Terriers rebounded Hamilton’s second miss with 1.3 seconds left and called a quick timeout. During the stoppage, Wolff elected to hold the ball for overtime instead of chucking a desperation shot from beyond half court.

“It’s a tough situation. Hamilton was in, and we were able to ice him a little bit,” Wolff said. “I didn’t want to put us in a position with one second to go of throwing the ball away and take away any chance that we might lose it.”

Hamilton got the last laugh, however, as he converted on 1-of-2 free throws with 1:05 left in the extra period — the eventualy game-winning basket.

The Terriers took a whopping 59 shots but converted a season-low 30.5 percent of their attempts. Corey Lowe struggled for the second straight game, netting only five points on 2-of-11 from the field (1-of-6 from beyond the arc and 1-of-4 from NBA 3-point range).

“I thought we did a pretty good job of moving the ball around,” Wolff said. “They’ve got long, athletic defenders that really bothered our guys. Still, as the game went along, we did have some good attempts. I thought Omari Peterkin had a great game for us inside. Tyler and Corey worked hard to run a good offense for us. We just had a couple of plays that didn’t go our way.”

Peterkin finished with nine points, 11 rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots, making his presence felt in his second start of the season. As a team, the Terriers hauled in 41 boards to draw even with the Red Storm, a number that’s more than respectable considering the height advantage St John’s had over BU.

In the 54-year history of the Holiday Festival, St. John’s has made 40 appearances and won 14 times. The fact that the Red Storm play 10 games at MSG this season puts BU’s performance into a little bit better perspective.

“We are the two-time defending champions in this tournament, and we treat Madison Square Garden like our home court,” Patterson said.

The first half was painfully slow as BU took a 19-17 lead into the locker room after shooting only 8-of-31. For the fifth straight game, BU’s defense was firing on all cylinders and kept them in contention. Hamilton and Anthony Mason Jr. (4 points) were held well under their season average in points per game as, much like they did against UMass, the Terriers doubled (and sometimes tripled) the post effectively.

“We started to trap big on big, which caused Hamilton to be further away from his comfort level,” Wolff said.

“We’ve played pretty well defensively for the last month or so,” he added. “When you’re in a game like this where they played well defensively, we played well defensively and everybody was rushing on offense, it causes it to be tough to shoot, and you see turnovers where there shouldn’t be turnovers.”

Turnovers plagued both teams as 23 total points were converted off of changes in possession. The Red Storm finished with 17 turnovers, while the Terriers coughed the ball up 15 times.

“Give BU credit. They are a very well-coached team,” said St. John’s coach Norm Roberts. “They did a good job defending us, and we did a poor job handling the basketball. We turned it over way too many times for no reason.”

Neither team held a lead greater than six points in a game of nine lead changes and four ties.

“Our record isn’t great, but we have already played five Atlantic 10 [Conference] teams and have only played two or three home games, and we are playing five or six freshmen, so I think we have a good team,” Wolff said.

“This is the first time for Boston University in Madison Square Garden, and I thought we were a little jittery to begin with,” he continued.

BU will get its second crack at St. Joseph’s University tonight in the Holiday Festival’s consolation game, after losing to the Hawks, 55-39, at Alumni Fieldhouse in Philadelphia on Nov. 27. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

“We expended a lot of energy tonight, as did St Joe’s and Hofstra,” Wolff said. “The turnaround time on these things is not ideal for a team with the makeup of our kids, being freshman- and sophomore-heavy. It is a great opportunity to play in the Holiday Festival. I am very appreciative to St. John’s and the people at the Garden.

“I just wish we got two more points.”