Men’s basketball finds rebounding success vs. Colgate

Throughout the season, the Boston University men’s basketball team has had to overcome significant injuries to key players to become a top team in the Patriot League.

The Terriers (17-11, 10-5 Patriot League) lost senior forward Justin Alston and junior guard Cedric Hankerson, both starters, to injury early in the season. Most recently, senior forward and team rebound-leader Nathan Dieudonne landed awkwardly on his ankle in a Feb. 10 win against American University, causing him to sit out the past two games. The constant injuries have forced BU to start 13 different lineups this year.

With Dieudonne on crutches during the Terrier’s 71-68 win against Colgate University Wednesday night at Case Gym, it was the big men who stepped up and led BU to its seventh-straight victory. Sophomore forward Nick Havener and junior center Blaise Mbargorba started for BU and combined for 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Meanwhile, junior forward Dylan Haines chipped in nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks coming off the bench to help dominate the undersized Raiders (12-14, 8-7 Patriot League) in the post.

Colgate started the 6-foot-9 Dana Batt, providing a mismatch for the 6-foot-11 Mbargorba and the 6-foot-8 Havener on offense. Mbargorba demanded the ball down low early and often, scoring two baskets in the first three minutes of play on his way to 10 points. Havener went scoreless in the first half, but provided in a big way for BU in the second, totaling 10 points, five boards and two steals.

Likewise, Haines was able to exploit the lack of height of the Raiders. He shot 4-of-6 from the field and contributed 20 solid minutes in place of Dieudonne. As a whole, the Terriers outscored the Raiders 30-18 in the paint and added 12 second-chance points.

“They were playing small,” said BU head coach Joe Jones. “At times, they were playing with five guards out there. It presents a big problem, because [we] got to chase those guys around. I think Nick was the big key. Getting Nick in the game and playing with Dylan is when we had a chance to control the game a little bit more.”

Jones said he was happy with the way his team played, despite squaring off against a smaller, quicker team.

“We were actually playing bigger and we were able to defend them, and that really helped us,” Jones said. “That was the one thing I didn’t know if we were going to be able to do — when they go small, how we were going to combat that. We were still able to defend them with a bigger lineup at times, and we did a good job.”

Wednesday’s victory was an unusual one for the Terriers, who regularly rely on the 3-point shot to keep them in close games. However, Colgate’s undersized lineup gave BU’s perimeter shooters fits throughout, as the Raiders held sophomore guard Cheddi Mosely and junior guard Eric Fanning to 3-of-15 shooting from behind the 3-point line.

With the Terriers struggling from deep, Havener and Mbargorba took turns demanding the ball down low and finding ways to score. Thanks to their scoring inside, BU shot 21-of-32 on 2-point field goals.

“Any of our bigs pose a really big threat,” Havener said. “Between me and our two 7-footers down low, we really help our offense have a little more diversity when we’re not making shots outside.”

Thanks to the big men’s efforts throughout the game, the Terriers are now tied with Lehigh University for second place in the league standings and trail conference leader Bucknell University by only one game with the regular season winding down. Without Dieudonne, who averages 10.5 points per game, it will be hard for BU to earn the top overall seed for the league playoffs, but it can’t be ruled out after tonight’s game.