Terriers flounder in Stony Brook

In the second half of last night’s 73-67 loss to Stony Brook University, the Boston University men’s basketball team looked like it had been on the road for too long.

The Terriers looked tired on defense, reaching with their hands instead of moving their feet, and were beaten to several key offensive rebounds in the last five minutes.

And if they weren’t tired heading into the game, they certainly were after watching Stony Brook senior guard D.J. Munir score at will for most of the contest. Munir scored 17 of the Seawolves first 19 points, and never looked back, finishing with 35.

Munir scored those 17 in the first 8:30 of the first half, before remaining scoreless for the remainder of the half. Not surprisingly, it was over that last 11:30 that the Terriers made their most impressive run of the game. Trailing 19-12 when Munir exited, BU ended the half on a 22-10 run, and headed into the locker room up 34-29.

The Terriers took their first lead of the game with 4:05 remaining in the opening half on a three-pointer by junior guard Matt Turner, who finished the game with eight points. Turner’s three was in the middle of a 13-2 BU run, which closed out the first 20 minutes.

But the Seawolves came roaring back in the second half, led by a rejuvenated Munir.

After junior forward Jason Grochowalski’s layup pushed BU’s lead to 39-36, Stony Brook responded with a 15-0 run. Once again, it was Munir, whose two free throws with 15:07 left gave the Seawolves a 40-39 edge and a lead they would not relinquish.

Munir also scored his thousandth career point on a three-pointer midway through the second half.

After being down 11, BU responded with a 9-0 run, highlighted by consecutive Butt jumpers, which pulled the Terriers within two at 58-56.

A Munir three pushed the Seawolves lead up to 67-60 and the Terriers would get no closer than three points, on a layup by sophomore guard Chaz Carr with 11.5 seconds remaining. Freshman guard Bobby Santiago closed BU out when he sank a free throw with nine seconds left.

Although Munir and sophomore forward Cori Spencer, who finished with 17 points on seven for seven shooting, were hurting the Terriers, no one did more damage than the Terriers themselves.

BU committed its seventh foul less than seven minutes into the final half, a sign of fatigue or lack of intensity. Regardless of the reason, it allowed the Seawolves to go to the foul line 34 times in the game, while the Terriers went only 15. This ended up being the difference in the contest, as Stony Brook made 24 free throws, including 13-13 from Munir. The Terriers connected on 14, but it was not enough.

For the Terriers, who lost their first conference road game of the season, Butt continued his strong play and Grochowalski played one of his best all-around games of the season. For the second straight game, Butt scored 18 points, and has tallied double figures in his last four outings.

Grochowalski scored 14 and also grabbed seven rebounds and had two assists. He also took a charge and seemed to make things happen at both ends of the floor.

Sophomore forward Rashad Bell, who on Monday was named America East Player of the Week, continued his strong play with 17 points, despite getting into some foul trouble in the second half.

All season long, head coach Dennis Wolff has stressed the importance and difficulty of getting road wins in the conference. Until last night, the Terriers were a perfect 5-0 in conference this season away from Case Gym. With the parity in the conference, it was probably unrealistic to expect the team to finish 8-0 on the road.

Now, however, the Terriers return to Babcock Street following two games in three days on the road. They have until Saturday to prepare for Hartford University, a team that fell to BU by one point in the first meeting this season. The last two games with the Hawks have been decided in the final 10 seconds, and this game appears no different.