It was a tale of two halves Wednesday night for the Boston University men’s basketball team, as the Terriers were dominated in the second period en route to an 80-64 loss at the College of the Holy Cross.
Despite leading by five at the end of the first half, the Terriers (7-7, 0-1 Patriot League) could not score on the Crusaders (6-6, 1-0 Patriot League) in the second, as BU shot only 29.6 percent in that time frame.
Holy Cross forward Malachi Alexander scored 12 of his 17 points in the first half, and three other Crusaders dropped at least 11 points. Senior forward Nathan Dieudonne led the Terriers with 18 points and nine rebounds, and sophomore guard Cheddi Mosely went 3-for-7 from behind the 3-point line en route to 15 points.
“We got outplayed in all aspects of the game,” said BU head coach Joe Jones. “Even in the first half when we were up five points, it was fool’s gold. [Holy Cross] shot well in the first half, we were just able to make a couple of more plays than they did.”
Jones said luck eventually caught up to the Terriers, especially as the margin of defeat increased as the clock wore down.
“But I knew in the second half that wasn’t going to last,” he said. “We just could never stop them consistently. I thought we mentally caved in a bit down the stretch and didn’t compete hard enough to kind of keep us in it.”
In the first half, both teams were in sync offensively, as BU shot 46.4 percent from the field while Holy Cross shot 58.3 percent. Despite the lower percentage, the Terriers were able to take an early lead due to nine 3-pointers in the half.
Holy Cross opted for a 1-3-1 zone defense to start the game, which made it hard for the Terriers to score in the paint, but opened up their chances from deep. Normally a strong team from behind the arc, Jones’ squad had no problem launching the long ball.
At the half, with BU holding a 40-35 lead, the Crusaders switched to a man-to-man defense to try to corral the Terriers’ shooters. The change paid off, and BU went 0-for-9 from deep and recorded zero assists in the half.
The Crusaders charged ahead with a 17-3 run that put Holy Cross up by 13 with over eight minutes left in the game. The Terriers were never able to catch up, starting off Patriot League play on the wrong foot and missing a chance to strengthen their lead in the Turnpike Trophy competition.
Even with the Crusaders’ defensive adjustment, Jones said he believes his team just had an off-shooting performance.
“We were 0-for-9 from three in the second half,” Jones said. “I don’t how many times that’s going to happen. We didn’t make shots — I thought we got some opportunities and just didn’t make them. We got some plays at the rim we didn’t finish, and we missed a ton of looks. So I just thought we had a tough night shooting, [and] in the second half, I thought that really affected us.”
One positive that the Terriers can take from the Patriot League match-up is the reemergence of Dieudonne. The Kentucky native shot 60 percent from the field, recorded two assists and had his second straight game with double-digit points and nine rebounds.
Now averaging roughly 10 points and six rebounds a game, it seems Dieudonne is starting to perform like the player who notched six double-doubles his junior year.
“He went after the glass really hard and got nine rebounds,” Jones said regarding Dieudonne’s performance. “He’s capable of doing that on a consistent basis. He kept going and kept fighting.”
The Terriers will next play Saturday, when they travel to Lehigh University to continue Patriot League play.
Nick is currently writing for the Boston Hockey Blog. In the past, he has served as associate sports editor, and has covered men's and women's cross-country, women's soccer, men's basketball, and men's lacrosse for the Daily Free Press. You can keep track of Nick's exciting life by following him on Twitter at @nikfraz14
