In a Patriot League matchup against Colgate University, Boston University men’s basketball team rose to the challenge, beating the Raiders (8-11, 4-2 Patriot League) by a score of 76-72.
The last time the Terriers (15-8 6-4 PL) and the Raiders met was in the 2021 Patriot League quarterfinals. The Terriers ultimately lost 77-69 to end their season in Hamilton, New York.
“Anytime you lose to a team the year before the way we lost to Colgate, that’s got to charge your batteries a little bit,” head coach Joe Jones said in a postgame press conference.
Defensively, Jones was proud of the team’s effort. BU had 40 total rebounds, led by two-time Patriot League Player of the Week graduate student forward Sukhmail Mathon with 11 and freshman forward Malcolm Chimezie with nine.
“I grabbed [Malcolm] today after our meal, and I just said, ‘I believe in you. You’ve been struggling, but I think it’s coming,’ and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I thought he really impacted the game,” Jones said.
At the start of the second half, the Raiders were able to stay competitive and brought the score within two by the halfway point of the half.
“They made some adjustments and tried to attack us with their strength,” Jones said.
Offensively, Mathon led with 22 points, followed by graduate student guard Javante McCoy with 17, but Jones prefers playing with a good pace instead of just feeding top point-scorers the ball.
“The big thing is trying to play with the flow and with a pace that kind of makes us hard to guard as a team as opposed to just trying to make sure our top guys are scoring,” Jones said. “Within the offense, those guys kind of find their shots, but as long as the pace and the rhythm is good, I feel pretty good about those guys being able to do what they’ve been able to do so far.”
The Terriers started the season 2-2, but Jones believes that the team has “improved a ton.” BU currently sits in fifth place in the Patriot League standings with eight matchups left in the regular season. The Terriers will welcome Patriot League rival College of the Holy Cross (4-15, 2-5 PL) to Case Gym on Monday night at 7 p.m. in hopes of continuing their four-game win streak.
“It’s like a cliche, but it’s just trying to go one day at a time, one practice at a time, one game at a time,” Jones said. “In great programs, they handle the success well. It’s like, ‘Can you handle success? Can you handle defeat? Can you keep learning and growing?’ That’s the key to having continued success.”
