The Boston University men’s basketball team was unable to complete its season sweep of Colgate University Wednesday night, falling 74-60 on the road.
Despite the Terriers (12-12, 8-5 Patriot League) knotting the contest midway through the second half, they trailed for a majority of the game and did not garner any points for the last two minutes and 47 seconds.
The Raiders (14-10, 9-4 Patriot League) were led by senior guard Jordan Robertson’s 20 points from off the bench while four of their starters notched 10 points or more.
“They made plays down the stretch to win the game for the second game in a row and we didn’t make plays,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “The same thing happened at Lehigh [University last weekend].”
Sophomore forward Max Mahoney started start strong for the Terriers, scoring seven of BU’s first 11 points. However, the Terriers trailed 14-11 early on.
Senior forward Jordan Swopshire had six for Colgate, who led 19-13 midway through the first half. The Raiders then opened a nine-point lead courtesy of a Robertson three.
BU actually shot a higher percentage than Colgate through the first 20 minutes, but the Terriers turned the ball over six times while the Raiders only turned over the ball three times near the end of the frame.
Senior guard Will Goff hit back-to-back threes to cut the Colgate lead to five with 4:22 remaining in the half. Goff, who was shooting 1-for-12 in his past three games from behind the arc, connected on three triples over the first half.
Freshman guard Javante McCoy hit a three as BU heated up late in the first half.
However, the Raiders would end the half on 8-3 run to take a 40-33 lead into the locker room. Robertson led all scorers with 12 while Mahoney and Goff had nine apiece to pace the Terriers.
Colgate connected on seven three pointers in the first half of this contest after only making six threes overall in the first meeting against BU.
Sophomore forward Tyler Scanlon had a balanced first half, with three points, four assists and two rebounds.
The Raiders thrived off the bench in the first half, outscoring the Terriers 16-6.
BU eventually shot 49 percent from the field, but was unable to pull out the win due to its defense. Jones noted that this is something he’s never had before.
“We didn’t play good enough offense to win,” Jones said. “Overall we’re executing, but right now we’re not getting stops. Tonight we didn’t get stops in the zone.”
Another area the Terriers struggled in was rebounding. The Raiders outrebounded them 32-24.
“There were balls that were up and they got [to the] loose balls,” Jones said. “I guarantee you, they either out rebounded us or got more 50-50 balls and when that happens we can’t win. When we were winning, we were making those plays. Right now we’re not making those plays.”
Colgate struggled offensively in the second half, as it was stuck on 48 points for almost four minutes. During this stretch, BU was able to cut the deficit to two after McCoy netted seven points.
Scanlon was able to heat up in the second half with eight points, including a three to cut the score to 54-52.
Mahoney tied the game at 54 with a layup, which capped a 17-6 Terrier run.
After its run, BU remained unable to score for over five minutes while freshman guard Jack Ferguson and Robertson notched three and five points, respectively, to give Colgate a 62-54 lead.
“We were playing good man-to-man defense and we were scoring with some consistency then I thought we got tired,” Jones said. “We had to sub and then we just hit a wall.”
The Raiders continued this offensive attack while the Terriers were only able to tally six more points for the remainder of the matchup.
“We didn’t get great shots in that stretch. We turned it over, we forced it, we didn’t execute down the stretch of the game on both sides of the ball,” Jones said. “They made more effort plays than we did, that’s kind of what happened after we were able to tie it.”
Colgate’s defense was also able to keep BU off the board for the last two minutes and 47 seconds of the game.
Although the Terriers will return home this weekend to play the College of the Holy Cross, Jones said he remains concerned about his team.
“It’s always good to get back home,” Jones said. “I’m more concerned about our ability to make effort plays right now. That’s what I see right now. [The] last two games, we just haven’t made enough plays.”
