BU blows twelve-point lead in loss to Hartford

The Boston University men’s basketball team allowed a 36-24 halftime advantage over University of Hartford to evaporate in the second stanza of its game at Chase Arena on Saturday, handing the Hawks their fourth win in America East conference play.

With just 1:29 remaining in the second half, Hawks forward Anthony Minor converted a layup to give the Hawks (7-12, 4-2 AE) a 56-55 edge, a lead they would not surrender. Hartford went on to win 59-55.

“It’s earth-shattering that we’re finding new ways to lose, unfortunately,” said BU coach Patrick Chambers. “It’s crazy.”

Freshman guard D.J. Irving paced the Terriers (9-12, 4-3 AE) with13 points and four assists, while senior forward John Holland (12 points), junior guard Darryl Partin (10) and junior guard Matt Griffin (10) rounded out BU’s double-digit scorers.

BU scored 36 points on 58.3 percent shooting (14-of-24) in the first half but scored only 19 points on 30 percent shooting (6-of-20) in the second half. The Terriers hit their last field goal of the contest at the 8:49 mark of the second and were held to 0-of-10 shooting in the final 11:11. Irving’s free throws with 7:16 remaining proved to be the Terriers’ last two points of the game.

The Terriers still had a chance at the end to pull out the victory, but Holland couldn’t convert on two of his 3-point attempts and Irving missed a trey of his own in the last minute. Guard Joe Zeglinski buried a jumper to extend the Hawks’ cushion to 58-55 with 24 seconds left, and then guard Milton Burton went 1-of-2 from the free throw line to seal the Terriers’ fate.

The Hawks’ two leading scorers – forward Morgan Sabia and Zeglinski – combined for 26 points with Zeglinski finishing with a game-high 15 and Sabia with 11.

“If we could keep Sabia and Zeglinksi under 20, keep them right around 15, 10, we thought we’d win the game,” Chambers said. “That certainly wasn’t the case.”

Despite Holland and Partin registering 12 and 10 points, respectively, a few notches below their season averages, Chambers was especially pleased that other players were able to step up on the offensive end, especially Irving.

“It’s a good sign if we get other guys involved,” Chambers said. “If D.J. Irving’s scoring 15 points, man, that’s going to loosen up things for John Holland and Darryl Partin. I find that to be a positive.”

Chambers noted, however, that as the Terriers’ second leading scorer, Partin needs to take more shots – he only attempted five shots against the Hawks, mainly because he found himself in foul trouble early.

Although BU lost by four points and coughed up another double-digit lead for the second time in three games against Hartford, Chambers was proud of one telling statistic: the Terriers limited the Hawks to a mere 35.6 percent shooting from the field. Yes, BU didn’t score for the last 11 minutes, committed crucial turnovers and took ill-advised shots during that stretch, but Chambers said defense wasn’t a key reason for the loss.

“Maybe I’m different, but I always try to look at the positive,” Chambers said. “The positive is that we played great defense. They’re a very good offensive team. They have a lot of weapons. They run a great offense. For us to give up 59 points is a credit to our team. We did a really good job defensively. We played really hard for 31 minutes.

“For whatever the reason, we became entangled. Shots weren’t falling. We were turning the ball over a lot. We couldn’t get to the foul line. We were in the one-and-one with 10 minutes to go. It’s another learning experience for this young team, and we’ve got to do a better job.”

For a team that boasts seven freshmen and has yet to record a win outside of Case Gymnasium or Agganis Arena, Saturday’s crushing defeat was just another bump on BU’s rollercoaster ride.

“We’re a young team with a lot of new guys,” Chambers said. “We’re playing a lot of freshmen and that’s what you get. We don’t know how to win on the road yet.”

With only three days to prepare before welcoming Binghamton University on Wednesday at Agganis Arena, Chambers expects to keep his squad headed in the right direction, regardless of its loss to Hartford.

“My focus is going to be on our team and where their heads are,” Chambers said. “Staying positive and upbeat, and telling them, ‘We’ve just got to be the best team we can be by the end of the year.’”