A balanced attack leads BU men's basketball to a runaway victory over D3 Thomas College
BU tallied its fourth-most points in program history, with six Terriers finishing in double figures. Ben Palacios, Miles Brewster, Mike McNair and Matai Baptiste all scored 15 points.
BOSTON – Leading by 36 with under four minutes remaining, freshman guard Azmar Abdullah saw a loose ball and went flying head-first into the courtside media table. He came up just short, popped back up and ran to the BU huddle while the rest of Case Gym remained somewhat stunned by what they had just witnessed.
“With Azmar, you don’t have to worry about, is he gonna play hard?” said head coach Joe Jones postgame. “It’s good to have some guys like that on your team.”
Abdullah’s ultra-competitive dive put the finishing touches on BU’s dominant second half, as the Terriers pulled away from Division III Thomas College, 113-75, on Monday.
BU (5-5) scorched the nets, connecting on 17 of 34 3-pointers, one shy of the program’s all-time record. The 113-point output is fourth in program history.
Senior Ben Palacios, graduate Miles Brewster and sophomores Mike McNair and Matai Baptiste all scored 15 points to tie the team lead. Abdullah (13 points, 6 assists) and freshman forward Ben Defty (10 points on 4-of-6 shooting) also finished in double figures.
Baptiste set a career-high with his 15-point outing. The 15 points from Palacios, who transferred from D2 Maryville University before last season, are the most he has scored in a BU uniform.
Palacios connected on 5 of 8 shots, all from beyond the arc, after finishing scoreless in the previous two contests.
Asked what a performance like that does for his confidence, Palacios said “it’s gonna boost it significantly.”
“Just happy to see some finally fall,” he added.
Shots fell for everyone on Monday. Overall, the Terriers shot 40 for 69 (58 percent) from the field, dished out 26 assists, scored 42 points in the paint and had six scorers in double figures.
“The reason why I feel so good about our team is because I think we have good balance and good depth,” said Jones.
BU, however, started slow defensively, only carrying a 54-41 lead into the halftime break. Those 41 points are the most the Terriers have yielded in an opening half this season. Thomas College (3-7) connected on 14 of 30 shots from the field and 9 of 20 from downtown in the first 20 minutes.
TC drilled numerous difficult 3s that Jones could not help but shake his head and laugh at. Other times, he looked visibly upset when BU allowed interior penetration or open looks from deep.
“I wasn’t pleased with our defense,” said Jones, “but also, like, they had a lot of guys make shots that didn’t have a history of making shots.”
“I felt like we could’ve closed out a little better,” added Palacios. “They were basketball players, so them hitting tough shots shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
But in the second half, the Terriers strung together stops and got out in transition, leading to an offensive storm.
After a few minutes of back-and-forth play, BU went on a 26-7 run to open up a 93-59 lead with nine minutes remaining. The extended run was powered by three 3s from McNair and two from Palacios.
“Once we were able to get stops, we were able to get up the floor and get some good ones,” said Jones.
“I do think we’re a pretty good running team, and we have a lot of guys that can shoot it and can hurt you, and we got some dudes that can get downhill, and we got a good post-up game. So when we do get stops, we should be pretty dangerous,” Jones emphasized.
The transition game is not at the top of Jones’ philosophy. Emphasis on defense and high-level rebounding comes first. But as BU continues to improve in those areas, the time to practice and excel in transition will only increase, giving the Terriers an added element offensively.
BU scored 59 second-half points on 58.8 percent shooting. All 11 Terriers who suited up scored, including senior walk-on Ryan Sutliff, who notched a career-high 5-point outing.
Sutliff connected on a baseline jumper right in front of the BU bench with four minutes remaining, earning a pat on the back from Jones as he ran back on defense. And on BU’s final offensive possession, Sutliff nailed a side-step 3, which had the entire Terrier bench on its feet celebrating.
“He works just as hard as anybody else on the team,” said Palacios, “so I was just proud of him to see him hit two shots.”
BU will now look towards a road matchup against Merrimack on Friday, with the chance to move above .500 and win three consecutive games for the first time this season.
For now, Monday’s performance should give the Terriers an added ounce of confidence.
“I think now that everyone got a share out there on the court today, feel like going into Friday and then next week’s game as well, we’re just going to be more confident and more together,” said Palacios.