The Case Gym crowd fell silent as the ball swished through the net. With just over two minutes left in Boston University’s matchup against the United States Military Academy, the Terrier bench sat in frustration as they watched Army sophomore guard Jalen Rucker drill a step-back three-pointer, and their chances of winning dwindling.
But BU sophomore guard Daman Tate knocked back a three-pointer to cut the Terriers’ deficit to two points, and the tides began to turn for BU.
“I’ve been in so many games with these guys…you never feel like you’re going to lose,” head coach Joe Jones said postgame.
When BU regained possession with eight seconds on the clock, the ball ended up in the hands of graduate student forward Sukhmail Mathon. Mathon absorbed contact from two defenders, and sunk the ball into the net for a game-tying “and-one” as the Case Gym crowd erupted. Mathon drained the free-throw to give BU the lead.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Terriers (17-9, 8-5 Patriot League) had come away with a 75-74 win over the Black Knights (13-12, 7-6 PL) on Wednesday night.
“I was missing my free throws, but I know my team needed me and I was just trying to stay there for them,” Mathon said postgame. “Javante [McCoy] did a great job just passing me the ball. I was wide open. They came. I just shot-faked, finished the play.”
The Terriers, who were able to rack up a nine-point lead during the beginning of the second half, watched the visitors crawl their way out of the deficit and turn the tables on BU before the Terriers pulled out the victory. The game is the 12th for BU which has been decided by five points or less.
Senior guard and forward Walter Whyte led the Terriers in scoring with 21 points, shooting five-for-eight on three-point attempts. Whyte missed all of December with an injury but has made a resurgence as a key player for BU in 2022. Jones said he told his staff after BU’s win over Lehigh last week that, “Walt’s back.”
Off the bench, Tate shot five-for-seven from the field and hit two of his three three-point attempts. In the Terriers’ matchup with Lehigh, Tate was five-for-five on field-goal attempts and three-of-three from long-range.
Jones praised Tate’s recent success postgame.
“His attitude has been awesome, like awesome, and he’s worked his tail off and he was playing really well in practice,” Jones said. “When you’re talented enough and you’re doing the right things, it always comes your way…without him in the last two games, I don’t know if we win. He’s been freaking terrific.”
Against Army, the Terriers committed 13 turnovers and the Black Knights were able to gather 13 offensive rebounds.
“If we could have rebound the ball better and not turned it over, I think it would have given us a chance to kind of extend that lead or keep that lead that we had in the second half,” Jones said.
BU has five more regular-season games before the Patriot League Tournament begins on March 1. When asked about the upcoming Patriot League competition, Mathon said the team will work to “get better each and every day.”
“The team, at the end, the one that continues to improve is going to win it all,” Mathon said. “And right now we’re going to tackle it day by day, and try to get the next win Saturday.”
The Terriers will welcome American University (6-17, 2-9 PL) to Case Gym on Saturday afternoon for their second-to-last home game of the regular season.
“It was one of those games, I think a lot of good things happened. And a lot of things I think that we need to work on and get better happened too,” Jones said. “I think it’s a great game to win and learn from.”
