CHESTNUT HILL – The team dropped a pair of games against tough non-conference opponents during the Thanksgiving holiday break, falling to Boston College, 67-44, on Saturday and to No. 13 Saint Joseph’s University, 71-56, last Tuesday.
BC shot 59.6 percent from the floor for the game at Conte Forum, and never saw its lead fall below 10 points in the second half. The Eagles had 22 assists on 28 baskets, committing only eight turnovers.
The Terriers (0-3) took an early 8-7 lead on the second of back-to-back three-pointers by junior forward Rashad Bell from the top of the circle. The teams traded baskets until the score was tied 13-13, but BC went on a 9-0 run in the 2:39 that followed and took a 10-point lead into the break, 32-22, by scoring the final six points of the half.
The Eagles (4-0) went 14-24 from the floor in the first half, and freshman guard Sean Marshall scored nine to lead BC. BU shot just 30 percent in the first 20 minutes, though Bell led all scorers with 11 points.
The start of the second half saw BC extend its lead, as an 11-4 run pushed the score to 43-26 with 14:21 to play. BU cut the deficit to 12 on a three-point play by sophomore guard Shaun Wynn with 8:51 left, but a Marshall trey 20 seconds later made it 50-35, and the Terriers would get no closer.
‘From our side, I was disappointed that we weren’t more competitive at different times during the game,’ said BU coach Dennis Wolff after Friday’s loss.
BC did not commit its first team foul until the first half clock showed 5:48, and the Eagles played the first 22:30 without turning the ball over.
BU shot the ball even more poorly in the second half than in the first, going 9-31 from the floor (18-61 for the game), but also had a season-low 11 turnovers.
‘I think some of the shots we took were not the shots we were looking for and those almost became turnovers in and of themselves,’ Wolff said.
The Terriers went just 4-23 from behind the arc, and were 0-10 from three-point range in the second half.
‘We had good looks,’ Bell said. ‘All of the three-pointers we took were good shots. They just weren’t falling for us today.’
BC was playing its first game since returning from the Paradise Jam on the island of St. Thomas last weekend. The Eagles won the tournament last Monday with an 84-81 win against Wichita State University. Any hangover from the trip for BC was remedied in the first few minutes of play.
‘I wasn’t hoping for anything,’ Wolff said. ‘What I wanted to have happen was to have us to come and compete a lot harder than we competed.’
Marshall scored 14 points on the day for BC, while sophomore forward Craig Smith and senior forward Uka Agbai tallied 13 and 10, respectively.
Bell was the only Terrier in double figures with 14 points and sophomore forward Kevin Gardner had a career-high and game-high 12 boards in 21 minutes. Freshman guard Pat Martin led the team with four assists.
On Tuesday night, Delonte West scored 20 points and Dwayne Lee poured in 15 off the bench as No. 13 St. Joe’s spoiled the home opener for the Terriers, 71-56, before a crowd of 1,669 at Case Gymnasium.
BU committed 20 turnovers in the game and shot just 1-9 from three-point range in the first half, while Jameer Nelson who led the Hawks with 19.7 points per game last year scored 13 points, adding seven rebounds, eight assists and five steals.
The Hawks (3-0) built 11-point leads twice in the first 11 minutes of play, extending that advantage to 13 points at halftime, 37-24. A West layup with 12:25 to play gave St. Joe’s its largest lead of the game at 52-32, and despite a 9-0 run, BU could never cut the St. Joe’s advantage to fewer than 11.
Senior forward Ryan Butt paced the Terriers with a career-high 20 points despite breaking his nose early in the second half. Junior guard Chaz Carr was the only other BU player in double figures with 13, while Bell scored nine points and grabbed nine boards while committing four turnovers.
‘I was pretty satisfied with the effort I got out of our group,’ Wolff said Tuesday night. ‘I didn’t feel at any point like we caved in, and we kept trying to make plays.’
BU has never beaten St. Joe’s in three tries, falling last year, 71-49, and by one point in 1983.
The Hawks relied on perimeter quickness and accurate shooting to bury the Terriers, countering every BU run and using most of the shot clock on every possession in the game’s final stages.
‘There’s no reason why they shouldn’t play to win,’ said St. Joe’s coach Phil Martelli about the Terriers. ‘They have experienced guys, a nice balance and they have a nice way of playing.’
The Terriers were without senior forward Jason Grochowalski, who missed both games while serving a suspension for violating team rules regarding academics.
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