Sometimes, it’s the little things that kill.
But for the Boston University men’s basketball team, which faced cross-town rival Northeastern University Saturday night, it was the little things that enabled the Terriers to win.
In an extremely close game, the Terriers won because of free-throw shooting and rebounding, according to BU coach Dennis Wolff.
“[Free-throw shooting and rebounding] were the two keys to the game,” Wolff said. “The free-throw shooting was great, and the guys did an excellent job on the boards, particularly when we needed to take over rebounding in the second half. It was a team effort; we had a bunch of different guys getting rebounds at key times.”
The Terriers began the game shooting about 40 percent from the field and struggled from behind the three-point line, connecting on only 2-of-8 attempts. BU only shot four free throws that half, sinking three. The Terriers went into halftime trailing by four.
The second half was a completely different story. The Terriers ran the same style offense the second half, but BU began moving the ball inside and relied on their big men to get the job done.
The Huskies overplayed screens, and each deep Terrier shot attempt seemed contested in the first half. BU used Northeastern’s intensity to its advantage, hammering the ball inside, which combined for higher percentage shots and more trips to the charity stripe. The Terriers made 24-of-30 shots from the line and they also out-rebounded the Huskies, 37-30, during the contest.
If clutch shooting was the most crucial factor of the win, BU got it in part from the charity stripe. The Terriers went to the line 26 times in the second half — they drained all but five shots. BU made its surge for the lead with 14:40 left in the game. During that stretch, the Terriers scored 21 of their 43 points from the free-throw line.
Wolff said the free-throw shooting was what helped the Terriers hold on for the win.
“Offensively in the second half, we played as well as we have all year, holding the ball and taking our time,” Wolff said. “I was proud of the way our kids hung through being down in a good bit of the end of the first half and the start of the second half.”
And another factor in the win was an impressive performance for the Terriers by junior forward Jerome Graham who tied career-highs in both points and free throws. Coming off the bench, Graham was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and 5-for-5 from the line. He was also able to grab four boards in 17 minutes of play.
“I’d like to single out Jerome Graham, who has worked very hard, and he played very, very good minutes [Saturday],” Wolff said. “He was very big for us. Because we were all so out of sync, [Graham] only got a couple fouls and a couple minutes against Harvard [last Tuesday], but that wasn’t a true indicator of how hard he’s played in practice. He deserved more of a chance and he produced, so he deserves some credit.”
Freshman forward Ryan Butt went 5-for-6 from the field, all in the paint, and also converted on all four of his free-throw attempts as well. Butt also grabbed four rebounds while freshman forward Jason Grochowalski scored all eight of his points from the free-throw line, missing only one.
Because the Husky defense had trouble stopping the Terrier front line from scoring inside, they began collapsing on BU’s big men. This gave sophomore forward Paul Seymour more open looks at three’s.
After hitting 2-of-5 shots from behind the arc in the first half, Seymour was a flawless 4-of-4 in the second. He ended the game recording a career-high 26 points and also grabbed eight rebounds.
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