Sophomore forward Ryan Butt scored 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Boston University men’s basketball team won its third-straight game Thursday night, a 63-57 victory over Northeastern University at Case Gymnasium.
The Terriers kept pace with the University of Vermont in the America East standings, staying one game behind the Catamounts (18-6 overall, 11-2 America East), with each club having three games left to play.
After a jumper by sophomore Jason Grochowalski tied the score at 10 last night, Northeastern (6-19 overall, 4-10 America East) went on a 16-2 run in the next seven minutes to break the game open. The Huskies continued to dominate for most of the first half, going up 32-17 with 1:59 to play, but BU (16-9 overall, 10-3 America East) ended the frame on a positive note, scoring the last seven points before Northeastern’s Jean Bain hit a shot as time expired. BU trailed 34-24 at the break.
“What I told my kids at halftime is that we were like a record on the wrong speed,” said BU head coach Dennis Wolff. “We weren’t freeing ourselves and we got ourselves in a big hole.
“We play a lot of young kids … and we sometimes get a little bit off kilter,” Wolff added.
Junior forward Billy Collins, BU’s second-leading scorer, played only three minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul with 16:49 to play.
But Collins was back to start the second, and the Terriers hit their stride out of the gate. Collins made it 39-36 with a jumper, and a pair of Butt free throws brought BU within one, at 39-38.
Down 43-40, Butt converted a three-point play to tie the game for the first time since it was 2-2 early in the first half. But Northeastern had an answer, as junior forward Q Randall made a layup to make it 46-43 with 9:47 to play.
A pair of Collins free throws brought BU back to within one, and after a Northeastern possession, freshman guard Chaz Carr made a three-pointer at 8:59 to give BU its first lead of the game, 48-46. Northeastern tied the game for a short time later on two Randall free throws and took the lead at 6:04 on a Bean jumper.
The game went back and forth in the next minute, with four lead changes in that span. But BU took the lead for good on a three-pointer by Paul Seymour with 4:50 to go.
The Huskies threatened a number of times as the clock ran down and got BU’s lead down to one point on two occasions. Randall carried the Huskies late in the contest, hitting a pair of free throws to make it 58-57 before he stole the ball from sophomore guard Kevin Fitzgerald BU’s next time down the floor. But Northeastern missed a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, and Collins made a layup to give BU a three-point lead, at 60-57.
Carr hit three free throws in the final nine seconds to seal the game for the Terriers, 63-57.
“We came back and got a few baskets and got within striking distance, [but] those guys were playing good and didn’t think we were going to be coming back and getting right back in the game,” Wolff said of his team’s performance. “We just talked about trying to have a good possession each time.”
Butt led all scorers with 16 points, his first double-digit scoring game since he scored 10 points against the State University of New York at Albany on Jan. 24.
“The last couple games I’ve been trying a bit too hard and rushing my shots and I haven’t been able to put the ball in the hole,” Butt said.
He had scored four points in his last three games while seeing limited minutes.
“Tonight, the ball fell my way and I was able to make some shots,” he said.
“Both times we played BU this year it has been a real dogfight,” said Northeastern head coach Ron Everhart. “We had some good looks, we just didn’t make our shots.”
Northeastern shot 41 percent in the first half, but only 20 percent in the second half.
“I thought we played pretty well tonight and particularly hard throughout,” Everhart said. “We had the ball point blank probably six times … but it was like we couldn’t finish, we couldn’t get the ball in the basket.
“They’re a good ball club and that’s just the way it is,” Everhart added. “We got beat by a good ball club.”
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