BU Beats UNH, Maine

Things did not look good.

10-0. 13-0. 15-3. It seemed as though the rout was on and the Terriers could do nothing to stop it.

But the Boston University men’s basketball team proved why it is in second place in America East, outscoring the University of New Hampshire 23-5 to open the second half and going on to win, 63-56, before a rowdy crowd at Case Gymnasium yesterday.

New Hampshire (10-14 overall, 7-6 America East) got off to a blistering start, making five of its first six shots to jump out to a 13-0 lead in the first 4:04. BU (15-9 overall, 9-3) worked the ball around the perimeter on offense and was unable to penetrate the Wildcats zone defense for most of the first fifteen minutes.

After a timeout, sophomore guard Paul Seymour scored BU’s first points of the contest on a three-pointer at 4:36. All of BU’s first 15 points came by way of threes, and the Terriers did not make a two-point basket until Rashad Bell converted a layup with seven minutes left in the first half to make the score 28-18. The freshman forward sparked the Terriers offensively when he took a pass from freshman guard Chaz Carr and elevated for a slam dunk with 4:21 to go.

Bell, who made his second consecutive start, scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds in a team-high 34 minutes.

The Terriers cut the lead to four with just over two minutes remaining in the half, but New Hampshire extended its advantage to 38-31 at the break.

The Terriers started the second half on a tear, as junior forward Billy Collins had five consecutive points, and BU tied the game at 39 with 14:13 left to play. The Terriers took their first lead of the game at 41-39, and went on to outscore New Hampshire 10-2 in the next four minutes to open a 51-41 advantage. Two of those points came on a follow-up dunk by Collins after a missed shot by Seymour, bringing the crowd of 912 to its feet.

But the Wildcats were not about to watch the Terriers walk away with the victory. New Hampshire battled back to 54-50 on a layup and a pair of free-throws by junior forward Jeff Senulis with 3:33 to play. A Wildcats turnover led to Collins making the front end of a pair of freebies, and after a New Hampshire miss, Collins dished to Bell for an easy layup.

A three-point play by Senulis at 1:40 made it 57-53 in favor of BU, but that was as close as New Hampshire would come. Clutch free-throw shooting from Carr and sophomore Jason Grochowalski sealed the game for the Terriers, as the Wildcats converted on only one of three possessions in the final 1:26.

The Terriers committed nine turnovers in the contest while forcing New Hampshire to make 21. BU also held New Hampshire’s leading scorer, senior forward Austin Ganly, to just 14 points, and none in the last 20 minutes.

“We weren’t trying to get the ball to Ganly in the second half, we were trying to make other players step it up offensively,” said New Hampshire head coach Phil Rowe. “The credit to them is that they came out and did some things defensively and we didn’t respond to it. The difference was their defense and our lack of offense in the second half.”

For the Terriers, it was the second win in as many tries since losing two straight last week.

“I’m very proud of the way the kids fought back out of that early hole,” said BU head coach Dennis Wolff. “I thought we kept our composure and made a bunch of plays down the stretch. We started out a little flat, but we are real happy with the win.”

New Hampshire, which had won three-straight games coming in, saw any chance of a winning record go down the drain. The Wildcats are 10-14 overall with just three games to play.

Coupled with a University of Vermont (17-6 overall, 10-2 America East) loss on Sunday, BU now sits one game behind the Catamounts in the conference standings.

“What I told my kids is that they’re still ahead of us and we can only try to win the next game,” Wolff said.

That next game is Thursday against Northeastern University (5-18 overall, 3-9 America East) at Case Gymnasium. BU won the first meeting between the two schools, a 95-88 overtime thriller, on Jan. 20.

A late run in the waning minutes of the second half allowed BU to squeak by the University of Maine Friday, 61-59.

Behind sophomore forward Jason Grochowalski’s best game of the season, a 20-point, six-rebound effort, the Terriers clawed back after trailing for most of the game, outscoring the Black Bears by 10 points in the final nine minutes of the game.

Down by eight with just over nine minutes left, junior forward Billy Collins started the charge by draining a three pointer, and the Terriers followed with a perfect 6-for-6 showing from the free throw line to pull BU within one point of Maine’s 52-51 lead with 6:56 left.

BU then bulled its way to victory. Freshman guard Chaz Carr hit his only three of the game at the perfect time to knot the score at 55, and Collins poured on the emphasis with a driving basket and foul over the Black Bears’ 7-foot forward Justin Rowe.

That gave the Terriers a 58-55 edge with 3:58 left in the game, and BU would stay on top, avoiding its third-straight loss.

Junior forward Paul Seymour continued to have a hot hand, contributing 13 points and going 4-4 from the charity stripe. Collins finished with 11 and Bell, who got the nod from Wolff for his first collegiate start, continued to make the most of his appearances with eight points and five rebounds.

Rowe led Maine with a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Joe Campbell added 11 for the Black Bears.

The Terriers shot over 41 percent for the game, a huge factor in a contest in which BU was outrebounded, a rare occurrence, 36-29.

BU has enjoyed success on the road all season, and improved to 6-1 on the road in the America East with the win.

Maine looked as if it might treat its home crowd to a romp early on, though, as the Black Bears jumped out to a 16-8 lead in the opening eight minutes on sharp three-point shooting, including a bomb from Campbell.

But Grochowalski was on early as well, and hit back-to-back treys to bring the Terriers to 16-14. The Black Bears stubbornly refused to give up the lead, however, and built a 26-17 edge with 6:07 left in the first.

Unfazed, Grochowalski spearheaded another BU run, hitting a jumper and a layup after stealing the ball. Maine’s lead was cut to 26-25 with 3:50 left, and it would be just 31-30 at halftime.

Maine hit only seven of its 20 second-half attempts, and Rowe was mostly held in check.

Friday’s game at Maine was the first time the Terriers faced the Black Bears this season, and BU will host the rematch against Maine at the Roof Feb. 24.