Empire state of mind

NEW YORK –– Under the bright lights of New York City, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are usually the ones who take Madison Square Garden by storm.

On Thursday, in his first game at The Garden, Boston University men’s basketball senior forward and Bronx, N.Y., native John Holland put on a show of his own at “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” dropping 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting as BU blew open a tightly contested matchup in the second half of a 63-44 victory over the University at Albany.

“I thought our team played really well,” said BU coach Patrick Chambers. “We defended really well. Albany’s a great team. Obviously, they missed some shots tonight. We played hard, got in foul trouble, had a great attitude, kept playing BU basketball, which was great. This was a great experience for our program, for our team and it’s something they’ll never forget.”

“It was a great experience,” Holland said. “I’m happy we won. That’s the most important thing. Hopefully, we’re starting to put it all together and make this run. It’s all coming down to the stretch, and hopefully, it all comes together.”

Against the Great Danes (12-15, 5-7 America East), the Terriers (14-13, 9-4 AE) were anything but a one-man show. Junior guard Darryl Partin tallied 14 points and junior forward Patrick Hazel, another New York native, snagged a game-high seven rebounds.

Albany controlled the opening tip, and it took only 16 seconds for forward Tim Ambrose to kick off the MSG festivities with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Both sides exchanged buckets in the contest’s early minutes before Holland and freshman forward Dom Morris each drew two quick fouls.

Junior guard Matt Griffin, freshman guard Mike Terry Jr. and freshman forward Travis Robinson provided a spark off the bench with their timely scoring, rebounding and hustle.

“Having Travis back and Mike and Matt, and all those guys, they give us so much energy,” Holland said. “You saw that today how they really brought us up, especially in the first half when me and Dom got into some foul trouble.”

With Morris and Holland reduced to spectator roles, Partin took center stage. BU’s second-leading scorer netted seven points to ignite a 9-0 run that extended the Terriers’ lead to 22-12 at the 13:37 mark.

Behind a combined 17 points from Ambrose, forward Luke Devlin and guard Logan Aronhalt, Albany stayed within striking distance of BU and entered halftime trailing, 32-21.

The Great Danes came out of the locker room on a tear that culminated in an Aronhalt trey with 13:22 to go that trimmed the Terriers’ cushion to four points. Albany was in prime position to close the gap on its next possession, but guard Mike Black bricked a 3-pointer, Ambrose came up short on a jumper and Devlin missed a layup.

A 17-0 spurt ensued, as the Terriers took a stranglehold on the AE’s first-ever game at MSG.

Terry Jr. converted a fast-break layup, freshman guard D.J. Irving knocked down a 3-pointer and Holland scored 12 of his 19 second-half points during the 17-0 run that turned the tide in BU’s favor.

“I think [defense] is the key to any run, and getting stops and having that lead to offense,” Holland said. “I think that was a big part of it and just everybody playing together and doing whatever we have to do – rebounding, extra passes, making shots. It all came together for us in that stretch. It all worked out.”

Albany didn’t record a point for nearly 11 minutes during the run, which saw BU’s 40-36 lead balloon to 57-36 with 3:16 remaining.

“We just couldn’t make a shot,” Aronhalt said. “Scoring 44 points, you can’t win games like that. They started playing really well. Their transition really killed us. They made some tough shots. John Holland made some really tough shots down the stretch and basically put the game away for them.”

Albany coach Will Brown could only marvel at Holland, who burned the Great Danes for 27 points back on Jan. 15.

“He probably wishes he played Albany more than twice in a season,” Brown said.

On Saturday at Case Gymnasium, the Terriers celebrated Senior Day by picking up their fourth consecutive win, a 61-50 triumph over the University of Hartford. BU’s late-season surge is beginning to resemble the one it authored last year, when the Terriers rattled off four straight victories to close out the 2009-10 regular season.

But according to Chambers, this season’s squad remains an unfinished product.

“This team’s still a little further away than the other team,” Chambers said. “On that team, we had nine seniors. It was a little bit different. We still have a lot of room to get better, which is exciting because you’re playing a lot of freshmen. We still have a lot of work to do.”