In a back and forth game, the Boston University men’s basketball team fell to the United States Naval Academy 83-67 at Case Gym Wednesday night.
The Midshipmen’s (11-5, 2-1 Patriot League) win marks their first in program history over the Terriers (7-9, 0-3 Patriot League).
“We’ve had trouble lately defending and we make too many mistakes,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “There’s times where we’re not making enough effort plays and there’s times where we’re making mistakes defensively. Missed assignments, bad transitions, bad communication.”
BU was led by sophomore forward Nick Havener, freshman guard Kyle Foreman and junior guard Eric Fanning, who each tallied 15 points, while Navy had three players with 16 points for the night.
The Terriers came out sluggish at the outset of the contest, finding themselves in an early 19-3 hole. Back-to-back 3-pointers from senior guard John Papale and Foreman brought the team back and paved the way for a slow but steady comeback.
Down 23-17, Havener began to amass points. He tallied 11 of his points in the first half, which helped BU to a 30-28 halftime lead. Havener has been a consistent source of offense for the Terriers as of late, as he has four double-doubles so far this year, including ones in BU’s last two games.
This is a necessary development for the Terriers, as they have recently lost the team’s second leading scorer, sophomore guard Cheddi Mosely, to a stress fracture for an undetermined period of time.
“Cheddi was playing and he was at, like, 70 percent with his injury, and then we decided we need to rest him so he can get healthy,” Jones said. “We have to be able to get the guys that are playing to gel better together.”
Jones listed Mosely as doubtful for the team’s upcoming game Saturday.
The second half followed a nearly opposite script, as the teams were in close contention until the very end. For the first 15 minutes, the largest lead was five points, and many lead changes took place.
Although the game seemed within the Terriers’ grasp, a jumpshot converted by Navy forward Jace Hogan extended Navy’s lead to seven with just over five minutes to go. From this point forward, the Midshipmen took control of the game, and the Terriers’ comeback bid was thwarted.
Navy had five players reach double-digit scoring, and the team shot 53.8 percent from the field. Meanwhile, they shot 42.9 percent from behind the arc.
The real problem for BU was its inability to stop the offensive flow of Navy, which had more points in the paint, more bench points and won the rebounding battle 30-28.
Hampering the Terriers further was an ever-increasing list of injuries to key players. As a result, eight players played more than 10 minutes, while Papale and Foreman played nearly the entire game. Additionally, Havener and Fanning both played 27 minutes.
“We have to learn how to win with the team that we have,” Jones said. “Sometimes … you’ve had so much turnover in terms of personnel. We’re dealing with Cheddi and Kyle not practicing and just playing because of their injuries and that impacts you.”
Fatigue will continue to play a role for BU when it will faces off against Lafayette College this upcoming Saturday.
