Losing in the final seconds of a game must get old very quickly judging by the way the Boston University men’s basketball team played the University of Hartford on Saturday at Case Gymnasium.
After going down by one with 1:28 left in the second half, sophomore forward Jake O’Brien hit the game winning 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left on the clock to secure the Terriers’ 58-55 win over the Hawks. It was the Terriers’ second consecutive nail-bitter in less than a week &- the first was a 76-75 heartbreaking loss to the University of Vermont on Feb. 9.
“It was a 40-minute grind, and for me, as a coach, a satisfying win,” said BU coach Patrick Chambers of Saturday’s win.
“It’s unfortunate that, in games like this, somebody has to lose.”
Somebody did lose, however, and if not for O’Brien’s miracle shot, it probably would have been the Terriers (14-12, 9-5 America East) who shot a season-low 29.7 percent from the field. The Hawks (7-18, 5-7) shot just as poorly at 31.6 percent.
“Obviously the shots weren’t falling, but … we work on these situations all the time and fortunately it went down tonight,” O’Brien said of his game-winner.
The sophomore also lit up the boards for another personal best this season. He had a career-high 14 rebounds to go along with 16 points, his fifth career double-double.
Senior guard Carlos Strong contributed eight points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks to continue his streak of impressive games. Junior forward John Holland struggled with his shot for most of the night, scoring just 11 points and grabbing seven rebounds, but Chambers was still pleased with the junior and the rest of the team’s performance.
“I’m extremely, extremely proud of these guys, cause I don’t think, during the course of this year and in the beginning of this season, if you shot 28 percent and you come out on top, I don’t think we could have done it,” Chambers said.
“I thought we kept a great attitude for most of the game. I thought we got some great shots, they just weren’t falling for whatever reason.”
Chambers was especially pleased with the job his squad did in defending Hartford guard Joe Zeglinski, holding him to just 10 points. Zeglinski is the third-leading scorer in the AE, sitting just behind Holland and Vermont senior Marqus Blakely with 16.6 points per game.
Despite being limited on offense, Zeglinski still grabbed 12 rebounds on the night, and was a problem for the Terriers right up until the end of the game. The Philadelphia native nearly sunk BU with a last-minute 3-pointer of his own, draining a shot from behind the arc with a little over a minute left to put the Hawks up 55-54.
“I’ve got to tell you, I love this kid Zeglinski, I’ve watched him for a long time and know his family well,” Chambers said. “He’s a tough, tough kid. I think anyone would love to coach him. He had 12 rebounds, for a 6-foot guard … I just wanted him to work hard on both ends tonight.”
Hartford junior Joel Barkers had the best night of any player despite shooting just 5-for-14 &- he had 19 points and 13 rebounds. But Barkers also shot just 56-percent shooting from the free-throw line, limiting his contributions for the night. Saturday was the Hawks’ second loss in three days &- they lost 78-70 to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County on Thursday.
“We’re just a team that’s had a couple of bumps along the way and it would have been nice to get this one,” said Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz. “It just wasn’t meant to be, so credit to BU.”
“A couple of bumps” is an understatement &- the Hawks went on an 11-game losing streak from November to January this season. Saturday’s loss came despite both Zeglinski and Barkers recording double-doubles.
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