In the 91st meeting between the Boston University men’s basketball team and College of the Holy Cross, the Crusaders cruised to victory in front of their home crowd, 72-52.
“They came in, they were ready,” BU (12-13, 6-6 PL) head coach Joe Jones said. “Great gameplan they executed at a high level … they were the aggressor for most of the game.”
All afternoon, the Terriers struggled to find consistency on offense, which Holy Cross (12-13, 4-8 Patriot League) quickly took advantage of, jumping out to an early 15-8 lead.
Sophomore guard Michael McNair, who has settled well into his starting role in his second season, hit two threes as he tried to kick the Terrier offense into gear.
However, the Crusaders’ on-ball defense made life difficult for the Terriers, who were forced to put up low-quality shots more often than they would’ve liked.
“We had a hard time doing anything,” coach Jones said. “The ball got stuck, we sold out and took tough shots. We didn’t play good team basketball.”
The Terriers had only 11 assists and 20 field goals while Holy Cross found revenge from their loss in their first matchup this season, shooting 55.3 percent to the Terriers’ 35.1.
Crusader freshman Max Green was a threat off the dribble. He carved his way through the Terrier defense to dish a game-high five assists, but oftentimes he did the damage himself.
Green led the Crusader attack with 18 points, shooting 7-13 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers.
Just as the Terriers cut down the lead to single digits midway through the second half, Green had the highlight of the game.
Late in the shot clock, he split the Terrier defenders, exploding to the rim for a thunderous dunk before the 30 seconds expired.
The Terriers again struggled to find offense at this phase, going scoreless for over five minutes, and the Crusaders wouldn’t let them off the hook, building their lead to the final buzzer.
The dagger came at the 5:30 mark, where Green forced the defense to collapse on his drive, kicking it out to forward Aidan Richard who bottomed a fading three pointer.
With the score now 60-44, a comeback was out of reach.
BU did have a few positives to take away from this game.
Freshman guard Azmar Abdullah once again made the most of his minutes off the bench, finishing as the highest-scoring Terrier in the contest.
Following his shoulder injury, Nico Nobili began to find his footing defensively, snagging seven boards as the Terriers topped Holy Cross in rebounds 32-27.
“We’ve got to continue to play for each other,” Jones said. “We’ve got to be able to answer the hard questions, and figure this out together.”
The team’s time for road improvements has dwindled down even more, with an even split of home and away contests in the last six games of the regular season, as the Terriers sit in the middle of the standings.
BU will next travel to Bucknell on the back-end of consecutive away matchups before returning home against Colgate and Loyola Maryland.
They will need to make their move sooner than later to secure a home playoff game or two, but if last season is any indicator of what’s to come, the Terriers should still feel decent about where they currently stand.
