You can keep what’s left of your hair — until Saturday, at least.
Because for the first time in a long time, the Boston University men’s basketball team ran away with a game down the stretch — instead of running up your blood pressure.
Wednesday night’s 66-55 win over the University of Maine at Alfond Arena was the Terriers’ first league contest this year, save back-to-back shellackings of Binghamton University and the University of New Hampshire, which has been decided by more than six points in regulation.
Closing out games when they have the lead has been difficult for the Terriers thus far. Look no further than last week’s game against the University at Albany, in which BU failed to score in the final five minutes, losing 52-50.
But playing in its first road game without freshman guard Corey Lowe — and third in a row without its leading scorer — BU (8-12, 5-3 America East) turned in a complete team effort and played one of its best second halves of the season, sweeping Maine (10-12, 5-5) for the 12th time in school history. The Terriers have now won 12 of their last 13 against the Black Bears.
“I thought in terms of our approach through the ups and downs of the game, we were the most mature we’ve been the whole year,” said BU coach Dennis Wolff. “Then once we got the lead in the second half, we played with considerably more poise than we have in the recent games.”
Redshirt freshman Tyler Morris led all scorers with 19 (7-of-13 from the field), while Maine native Carlos Strong netted 15 (4-of-11, 3-of-9 from beyond). Freshman Scott Brittain scored 13 (5-of-7) and led the team with five rebounds to help BU end Maine’s five-game winning streak.
The first half certainly had its fair share of runs, with each team grabbing leads between eight and 11 points, only to see them fade away in a matter of minutes. After flopping out of the starting gate in both halves, BU went on a 7-0 run capped off by a Brittain drive over senior Chris Bruff (11) at 12:58. The Terriers never trailed after that basket tied the game at 42.
“Brittain had a very good all-around, game. He played great defense and took good shots on offense,” Wolff said. “He’s played many good games for BU and this was one of his better ones for sure.”
Last time Black Bears senior guard Kevin Reed faced the Terriers, he lit up The Roof for 29 points and almost hit a game-winning desperation 3. Wednesday, he scored two points on 1-of-8 shooting (0-of-5 from beyond), as Strong did an excellent job keeping the conference’s hottest player (18.6 ppg in AE play) in check.
“I think Carlos Strong has become a much improved defensive player over the last month and our team defense was some of the best I’ve seen in the second half,” Wolff said.
In addition to Strong’s lockdown defensive effort, he hit a dagger 3-pointer with 6:42 left to put BU up by four — tying the Terriers’ largest lead to that point. The the flood gates opened and freshman Sherrod Smith fed sophomore Ibrahim Konate for a monster dunk, then drove hard into the paint, drawing a foul for a three-point play after a steal by sophomore Marques Johnson.
“The most important play was when Strong hit a 3 to put us up by four,” Wolff said. “That broke their back.”
The energy BU played with down the stretch, especially with senior co-captain Omari Peterkin on the bench with four fouls, is nothing but encouraging.
“We worked a lot on last-minute situations all week,” Wolff said. “These kids wanna win. I don’t have to tell them anything.”
And with Lowe participating in a light, afternoon shoot-around without wearing a medical boot, the Terriers could be getting a shot in the arm at the perfect time, having taken sole possession of third place in the conference with eight games remaining.
“I think it’s something where everybody else matured,” Wolff said of the teams’ play in Lowe’s absence. “We’ve played three games without him, won two had a chance to win the third.”