Over winter break, the Boston University men’s basketball team had its share of highs and lows. After losing to its first opponent, BU won its next four games before dropping three straight Patriot League contests to once again fall below .500 on the season.
The Terriers (7-10, 3-3 Patriot League) sit tied for fourth in the Patriot League standings with the majority of their conference games still to come.
“I feel like we’re a team that doesn’t deserve to be 5-1 or 6-0 in conference, but could easily be if a couple plays here and there go our way,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “It’s nothing I didn’t expect from some inexperience, but we have to be able to learn and get better that’s been my whole thing.”
To open up its stretch of games over the break, the Terriers traveled to Ohio Dec. 20 for a non-conference showdown with the University of Dayton. There, the Flyers (15-2), who are 10-0 at home, served BU a 78-62 loss.
Junior forward Nathan Dieudonne registered his second double-double of the season, and sophomore guard Cedric Hankerson recorded 25 points, but it wasn’t enough to propel the Terriers to a win.
Returning home the following weekend, BU started off its win streak with a victory over Wentworth University on Dec. 29, defeating the Leopards (12-15) by a score of 69-46.
Sophomore guard Eric Fanning and Dieudonne were the only players in double digits, as the team had to overcome the absence of leading scorer Hankerson.
“Going into break, I felt good after the Harvard, Dayton and Quinnipiac games. We were heading in the right direction, playing better and guys were starting to get it,” Jones said.
The team then entered conference play against the College of the Holy Cross on Dec. 31. In a back-and-forth affair, Jones’ team earned a 75-72 overtime win, which marked its first back-to-back victories on the season.
Aided by 60.9 percent shooting from the field, Hankerson and junior forward Justin Alston led the team with 17 points apiece and Dieudonne chipped in with another double-double.
Alston had several big games for the Terriers over break and garnered praise from his coach.
“He’s really been a guy who you can count on in terms of attitude and how hard he’s going to work,” Jones said. “We’ve been getting on Justin about his rebounding, and that’s improved. He’s a guy that has had to take a big step because he didn’t have that many minutes last year, and now he’s in a different role.”
The Terriers were down 72-71 with 1:01 to go in overtime before Alston converted a layup, and he and junior forward John Papale made one of two free throws to stretch the lead to three and secure the win.
In their first game of 2015, the Terriers routed Lehigh University 75-56 on Jan. 3 at home behind a monster game from Fanning. The Trenton, New Jersey native had a career-high 21 points with seven rebounds and six assists.
BU also shot 56 percent from the 3-point range on 25 attempts. Six of those attempts came from freshman guard Cheddi Mosely, who converted five of them, accounting for all of his 15 points on the night.
Another strong performance beyond the arc lifted the Terriers past the U.S. Naval Academy 70-64 on Jan. 7. This time, it was Hankerson who shined as he scored 21 points and went 5-for-8 from the 3-point range. Alston poured in an additional 17 points while Dieudonne had another double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Terriers held a large lead for the majority of the game, but the Midshipmen (7-11, 3-3 Patriot League) did come within six points of tying the game with 2:11 remaining before a 3-pointer from Papale distanced BU, ending Navy’s three-game win streak to keep its own alive.
Three days later, the Terriers were handed their first league loss when Lafayette University edged out BU 63-62 on a last second layup by guard Zach Rufer.
At Agganis Arena, the Terriers took the lead with 0:07 seconds left on a tip-in from Alston, to go along with 12 rebounds and four blocks, but could not stop the last second shot.
Leopard (11-6, 3-3 Patriot League) forward Dan Trist was able to pile on points all night against the Terriers as he finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds with no answer from the opposition.
Following that loss, the Terriers headed to Colgate University on Wednesday, where they could not hold onto a first-half lead and fell 62-53.
BU was outscored 36-24 in the second half, and Hankerson had only three points on 1-of-8 shooting.
“Colgate is one of the veteran teams in the league in terms of seniors, and they did a better job than we did at executing and understanding what we need to do in that game,” Jones said. “Although we led most of the game, they made the play and took control of the game when they needed to.”
The last game of the break served as another letdown from the Terriers as they fell in overtime to Loyola University Maryland 91-86 on Sunday in Baltimore. BU held a five-point lead with six seconds remaining.
Greyhound (7-10, 3-3 Patriot League) guard Denzel Brito nailed a 3-pointer, and then the team fouled BU in order to get the ball back. The referees, however, determined that before the Terriers inbounded the ball, they had committed a flagrant foul, therefore the Greyhounds were able to tie the game with two free throws. Fanning missed the two free throw attempts that came from the original foul, sending the game into overtime.
“At Loyola, some unfortunate things happened, and again, we outplayed them most of the game, and in the end, we just really did not make smart decisions, which cost us,” Jones said.
The Terriers could not keep up with the pace in the extra period, and although they had a 83-82 lead with 1:10 remaining, they were outscored 9-3 the rest of the way to seal their fate.
Going forward, Jones said BU will have plenty more chances to prove itself in the Patriot League.
“This is going to come down to who’s going to be playing the best ball in March, and that’s where we need to be,” Jones said. “I’m looking forward to the journey of getting this group to be playing their best at that time of year. You can see we’ve been up and down in the league, but definitely, we have improved.”
