Boston University men’s basketball coach Patrick Chambers could have taped a hundred-dollar bill to the backboard. It wouldn’t have mattered. For a 7:02 stretch late in the second half, BU simply could not buy a bucket.
And so, despite leading by as many as nine points midway through the second half, the Terriers lost to Harvard University, 78-70, at The Roof Sunday night. The win snapped an eight-game winning streak for BU in the storied series, and was Harvard’s first win at Case Gym since 1972.
BU (2-5) was tasked with defeating a Harvard (5-1) team that gave nine players 10 or more minutes, but skilled players were not the Terriers’ only opposition. The home team was also challenged by serious injury woes.
Senior forward Scott Brittain remained out with a concussion. In addition, senior forward Valdas Sirutis, who had started the previous four games for the Terriers, was sidelined by a leg injury. Freshman guard B.J. Bailey was also unable to play. When asked about Bailey and Sirutis, Chambers commented, ‘Hopefully we have them back by Bucknell.’
As a result, BU’s roster was limited to seven scholarship players, plus walk-on seniors Tunde Agboola and Mike Schulze. Each of BU’s starters played more than 30 minutes; in contrast, do-it-all guard Jeremy Lin was the only Crimson player to log more than 30 minutes, and Oliver McNally was the only other Harvard player to exceed 25 minutes of action.
The Terriers tried every available means for getting rest. Chambers called three timeouts in the first half with the intention of keeping his players loose and energetic in the second half.
And for a while, the strategy worked. Harvard jumped out to a first-half lead that reached as many as 13 points, but the timeouts helped BU conserve energy, and by halftime the lead was down to two. The Terriers turned it on once again to begin the second stanza, extending their 17-6 half-ending run with a 16-6 burst. With less than 15 minutes remaining, the score was 50-42, in favor of the Terriers.
Though not resorting to a more frenzied full-court press, the Terriers repeatedly met Crimson ball-handlers on the far side of the timeline. As an ancillary benefit, chewing up clock in this fashion made the game shorter, but the three-quarter-court press was also intended to disrupt the Harvard attack.
‘[Harvard]’s a rhythm team,’ Chambers said. The Terriers’ pressure defense, for a time, took the Crimson out of their offense and forced some turnovers. At game’s end, Harvard had committed 17 turnovers.
But at game’s end, a nine-point Terrier lead had become an eight-point deficit. After controlling the game from midway through the first half to midway through the second, the Terriers, by Chambers’ account, ‘ran out of gas at the end.’
At the 7:37 mark of the second half, sophomore Jake O’Brien scored two points in the paint for BU, pushing the score to 62-57 in favor of the Terriers. With 35 seconds remaining, senior Tyler Morris made a layup to give the Terriers their 67th and 68th points. In between, BU scored four points, all on free throws.
Prompting that stretch, though, was a critical possession for BU. The Terriers brought the ball up the court at 9:09 of the second half, and junior John Holland attempted a layup, which was blocked. Holland collected the offensive rebound.
The ball found its way to BU sophomore Jeff Pelage, who missed a layup. Holland grabbed the rebound. BU senior Corey Lowe missed a 3-point shot. Pelage grabbed the rebound. Pelage was fouled and missed both free throws.
BU missed five shots total in that stretch: three from the field, two from the line. While Harvard had regained some composure and stopped the bleeding prior to the Terriers’ ill-fated possession at 9:09 of the second half, BU had scored on its last two possessions and had an opportunity to build some momentum.
And just like that, it was gone. Faced with the empty result, BU allowed Harvard to score on its next four possessions, leading into the Terriers’ seven-minute field-goal drought.
Harvard’s defensive effort was also’ a major factor causing the Terriers’ offensive slump.
‘I thought we came up with big stops and clawed our way back in it,’ Harvard coach Tommy Amaker said.
Lin was key to the Crimson victory, providing 16 second-half points to go with four rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocked shots. He capped Harvard’s comeback with a pair of fastbreak buckets, first a layup, then a back-breaking dunk.
The star guard, though, had help from his teammates. Keith Wright was 5-of-9 from the field for 11 points. Oliver McNally had 13 points on seven shots. Brandyn Curry made all four of his field goals.
Down the stretch, Harvard’s offense worked wonders.
‘They understand their roles,’ Chambers said. ‘They executed exactly what they wanted to do.’
BU, on the other hand, did not. Chambers refused to use exhaustion as an excuse for the Terriers late-game collapse, instead referencing his basketball background.
‘I’m old school,’ Chambers said. ‘I played 40 minutes a game.’
But the Terriers didn’t play 40 minutes. Seven games into the season, BU is 2-5 with a long road ahead.
‘We’re not close to where we need to be,’ Chambers said.
Kibbles and Bits
Holland started his first game since the season-opener at Iona College. He finished with 18 points and nine rebounds . . . Both teams shot well from the free throw line, with Harvard making 23-of-27 and BU converting 15-of-20 . . . The Terriers had 16 offensive rebounds compared to Harvard’s nine, but the Crimson held the edge in second-chance points, 14-11 . . . Lowe had five of BU’s 16 turnovers. He leads the team in the category with 36 through seven games . . . Agboola played three minutes in the first half, getting a steal in the Harvard backcourt and quickly converting a layup.
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