In its first home game of the season, the Boston University men’s basketball team was downed by the University of Massachusetts – Lowell by a score of 69-59 Sunday afternoon at Case Gym.
The defeat stands as the Terriers’ (1-4) third-consecutive loss in a string that includes a hard-fought 89-65 defeat at the hands of No. 1 University of Kentucky on Nov. 21 and a 75-68 loss to the University of New Hampshire on Tuesday.
“You have to give credit to UMass Lowell. They played very well,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “Obviously, we need to get better, and we really haven’t played well our last few games. Everyone, including myself, has to take a hard look and see what we can do better. We have to do a better job of holding ourselves accountable.”
BU started out strong against the River Hawks (5-2), jumping out to a 13-5 lead within the first six minutes of the game. The run was highlighted by 3-pointers from sophomore guard Cedric Hankerson and freshman guard Cheddi Mosely.
Sunday was another impressive showing from Hankerson, who finished with 22 points and five assists. Currently, the Miami native is leading the team at 20.6 points per game.
The River Hawks went on to take the lead from the Terriers with 8:27 left on the clock in the first half in one of many changes throughout game. The man who seemed to be always in the middle of it all for Lowell was redshirt freshman Jahad Thomas, who finished the night with 21 points, including a 7-11 shooting performance from the field.
The half closed with five consecutive points from Thomas to give the River Hawks a seven-point lead at 29-22 with 20 minutes remaining.
“We have guys right now that are in positions that are very, very new roles,” Jones said. “We really haven’t clicked yet, and sometimes, that takes some time to figure that out.”
The Terriers would climb back into the contest, as the team staked a 34-32 lead on a Hankerson layup with 15:31 left on the clock.
BU had its last lead of the game with 12:25 left, as Thomas made a layup to give Lowell a 39-38 advantage. The River Hawks’ momentum only grew from there.
After freshman Lance Crawford made a layup to increase Lowell’s lead to nine at 9:27, the Terriers attempted to make a surge, cutting the lead to three with 2:58 left on a 3-pointer from junior guard John Papale.
Papale may be second on the team in scoring with 10.4 points per game, but his field goal percentage is only .353, with a .344 shooting percentage from beyond the arc.
Jones said these numbers are not indicative of Papale’s season as a whole.
“He’s playing with a badly sprained ankle the whole game, and in the Kentucky game, you’re playing the top team in the country, and their goal was to not let him get off shots, so that has nothing to do with his bad play,” Jones said. “He’s making plays for everyone, and he’s in a completely different role than he was in last year.
“You can’t look at him and say he’s in a slump because he’s 3-4 from three. You have to look at everything he’s doing, not just shooting.”
Papale is third on the team in rebounding and leads the team with 19 assists in its five games.
After the Papale trey, the River Hawks regained control on the back of senior Chad Holley, who had seven of the team’s last 12 points.
Hankerson, Papale and freshman forward Nick Havener all missed 3-pointers in the last minute to seal the Terriers fate.
“You can look at a lot of things and say that the world is collapsing, but there’s some things that we can control that we’re doing a poor job of,” Jones said. “We haven’t been very good these last two games, and they basically come down to a one or two-possession game that we haven’t won.”
Jones said in the immediate future, the Terriers are going to need an increase in energy in order to win games.
“The one thing we have to do is our energy level and our effort has got to improve,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of things to work on, but right now, my top priority is coming out with more energy, coming out with more 50-50 balls and making more plays. That’s the one thing that you can control.”
Truly sad. 1-4. A loss to a program 2 years removed from Division II. They will be extremely lucky to break .500. And the annual sophomore exodus will continue when Hankerson, obviously a far more talented a player than this program is entitled to, exits stage left for an Atlantic 10 program. It will continue this way forever. I promise you. My goal was to leave sufficient funds at my passing to endow a men’s basketball scholarship. I believe that’s about $ 1 million. No more. The mediocrity has gone on for years. This team will never EVER win a men’s NCAA tournament game. NEVER.