After dropping its previous two contests, the Boston University men’s basketball team bounced back with a 76-67 win at the United States Military Academy Wednesday night at Christl Arena.
The victory lifts the Terriers (11-11, 4-5 Patriot League) back to a .500 record with the second half of their conference schedule upcoming. They ended their first round of Patriot League opponents at 4-5, and will look to improve this time around before playing in the Patriot League Tournament.
Sophomore guard Cheddi Mosely led BU in scoring with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and senior forward Nate Dieudonne tallied his third straight double-double with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and a career-high 18 rebounds.
Senior guard John Papale also had a strong night, finishing with 12 points and tying John Holland for second all-time in career 3-pointers with 255. BU head coach Joe Jones was pleased with his team’s fight in the win.
“I was proud of our guys,” Jones said. “We came out and played with very good effort. We held them to 33 percent shooting for the game — those are great numbers. We outrebounded them [and] just overall, we did a nice job. And Nate played like a senior — just tremendous effort.”
Army (12-8, 3-5 Patriot League) entered the game without their stars Tanner Plomb and Kevin Ferguson, who are the conference’s top scorer and rebounder, respectively. As a result, the Black Knights were held to 21-of-62 from the field and 9-for-32 from behind the 3-point line.
The game did not start smoothly for the Terriers, as they fell behind the Black Knights 15-6 with 12:34 left in the first half. BU then responded with an 11-0 run of their own, featuring back-to-back 3-pointers from Mosely, who hit five deep balls in the game.
The remainder of the first period was largely back-and-forth, as neither team led by more than four points after that. Dieudonne finished with 12 points after twenty minutes, and Mosely tallied eight up to that point.
In the second half, the game continued to be a close contest until the 13:01 mark in the period, when BU finally pulled away and opened up a commanding lead. Dieudonne had five points in the charge, capitalizing it with a vicious slam for his final points of the game.
Dieudonne has been on an absolute tear lately, as he has grabbed at least 10 boards in five of the last six games. He has also averaged 12 points in that same span. Jones had plenty to say about the Louisville, Kentucky native’s strong play.
“Nate has really stepped up as a leader,” Jones said. “I’m very proud of the way he’s competing. He’s focused every day in practice. He’s putting it all together right now in the last stretch of the year. I’m proud.”
After the run, the Black Knights only pulled within seven, as BU hit 3-of-4 free throws in the last minute to seal the win.
Another strong aspect of BU’s game Wednesday was its hustle in and around the glass. The Terriers outrebounded the Black Knights 45-33 and totaled their most boards since grabbing 55 in a win at Lafayette.
“I thought we did a nice job,” Jones said. “[Army] goes really hard and play very hard and really get after it. We did a nice job on the glass tonight overall, obviously led by Nate.”
The Terriers will next play Sunday when they square off with Lehigh University, which bested BU 81-73 Jan. 2.
Nick is currently writing for the Boston Hockey Blog. In the past, he has served as associate sports editor, and has covered men's and women's cross-country, women's soccer, men's basketball, and men's lacrosse for the Daily Free Press. You can keep track of Nick's exciting life by following him on Twitter at @nikfraz14
