Men’s basketball prevails in overtime over Lafayette College

Joe Jones, head coach of the Boston University men’s basketball team, knows that there are no giveaway games in the competitive Patriot League.

So when his side faced off against No. 10 Lafayette College on the road Saturday in a matchup of teams seemingly headed in opposite directions, Jones told the Terriers (14-11, 7-5 Patriot League) to be ready for a challenge.

As predicted, the team got all it could handle from the Leopards (5-17, 2-9 Patriot League). The Terriers rose to the occasion on the backs of their senior leaders, emerging from Kirby Sports Center with an 89-82 overtime victory and establishing themselves as one of the conference’s teams to beat.

“I told the guys we were gonna have our hands full tonight,” Jones said. “We expected it. It wasn’t gonna be an easy game. I think we handled that very well.”

Early on, BU made a point to exploit its clear inside size advantage over the Leopards (5-17, 2-9 Patriot League). In the first frame, BU outscored Lafayette 18-8 in the paint, held a 27-20 rebounding advantage and senior forward Nathan Dieudonne was well on his way to yet another double-double with six points and 11 rebounds.

On the other end of the court, Lafayette failed to convert offensively. The Leopards, owners of the Patriot League’s fourth-best scoring offense, went just 9-of-32 from the field. Still, BU left the door open, leading by just eight points at halftime.

Sure enough, the Leopards found their offensive stride in the second half, shooting 62.1 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from distance to fight their way back into the game. Lafayette hit three 3-pointers in a three-minute span and opened up a six-point lead with just under three minutes to play.

“I thought we were a step slow tonight, and if you’re a step slow against these guys, they’re going to find the open man,” Jones said. “They were able to do that.”

Then, the Terriers’ seniors took control. Senior guard John Papale came off a screen to drain a huge trey to keep it a one-possession game with 2:18 remaining. Next, after Lafayette converted a 3-point play opportunity to go up by four with a little more than a minute on the clock, Dieudonne slammed home a dunk.

BU then forced a shot-clock violation from Lafayette, giving the visitors 12 seconds to try and work some more late-game magic. The Terriers worked their way up the court and again found Dieudonne, whom the Leopards strategically chose to foul because of his 65.7 percent career free throw shooting percentage.

Dieudonne came through in the clutch, calmly knocking down his foul shots to send the game to overtime tied at 69.

“[Dieudonne and Papale] played like seniors,” Jones said. “They stepped up. They were the driving force for our team. Our guys are playing for them. They want to see them go out as winners. It’s great to see, and that’s what’s supposed to happen this time of year. You win because your older guys make plays.”

While the team’s senior stalwarts carried it into overtime, it was one of the Terriers’ newest stars that led them through the finish line. Freshman guard Kyle Foreman, who had gone just 1-for-8 from the field in regulation, came alive in the extra period, dropping 11 points and going a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line to help the Terriers earn their fourth-straight victory.

After starting Patriot League play 0-3, the Terriers now find themselves in a four-way tie for second place with their longest winning streak of the season in tow, suggesting they might be peaking at just the right time.

“You never know, but I was very confident that at some point, we would be playing better,” Jones said. “We have good players. At some point, we were going to hit our stride. As a coach, you watch your guys every day and you can tell they get a little bit more comfortable around each other, they get a little bit more confident, they put a couple of wins together and they start to feel it. The way they play now, they have a level of resiliency and they find ways to get it done.”