Behind an Azmar Abdullah eruption, BU men's basketball defeats Howard for second consecutive win
The freshman guard put the Terriers on his shoulders in the second half, scoring 18 of his career-high 21 points in a 69-62 win over the Bison.
Azmar Abdullah, have yourself a day.
BU’s freshman guard poured in a career-high 21 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 5 for 7 from 3. 18 of Abdullah’s 21 points came in the second half.
Abdullah’s clutch shooting down the stretch lifted the Boston University men’s basketball team past Howard, 69-62, in a neutral site victory at UMBC’s Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore.
“Azmar was incredible,” said head coach Joe Jones.
Trailing 56-54 with just over three minutes to play, Abdullah canned back-to-back 3s to give BU (3-4) a 60-56 lead. It sparked a game-ending 15-6 run that included 13 points from Abdullah.
He added a mid-range jumper, drained a 3 to give BU a five-point lead with 37 seconds remaining, and converted two free throws to put the game away.
“He’s really confident. He can get his shot off quickly. He can make tough ones,” said Jones. “He gives you something that a lot of teams don’t have, and we’re not afraid to go to him.”
A 3-pointer by Abdullah with just under 12 minutes remaining gave BU a 46-39 lead, its largest of the game to that point.
Howard (3-3) responded with an 8-0 run to take a 47-46 lead. It was back and forth from there until Abdullah’s late-game surge.
“We’ve been through a lot, and so losing a lead is not gonna be something that’s going to overly impact us,” said Jones. “We know there’s a lot of possessions left in the game.”
BU had a 26-21 lead over Howard (3-3) at halftime.
The Terriers were just 8 for 30 from the field and connected on 7 of 18 3-pointers in the first half. But Howard turned it over 10 times and was just 7-for-21 shooting.
Both sides connected at a much higher rate in the second half. BU was 14 of 24 from the field and 6 for 9 from 3. Howard was 18-for-34 shooting.
“They made us win the game. They weren’t going to give it to us,” said Jones. “That’s the thing I really feel great about, winning this game because we had to be tough to win.”
Following a 60-58 loss at the buzzer to Wagner at Case Gym on Tuesday, the Terriers responded with close wins away from home on back-to-back days.
BU was tested on Saturday in a 75-71 victory over UMBC that went down to the wire. It was tested once again on Sunday against the defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champions and came out victorious.
“We had a really tough week after Tuesday’s game,” said Jones. “It was as gut-wrenching a loss as I’ve ever had in the regular season.”
“And so to come back and win two on the road,” he continued, “that’s a team that probably has a chance to win their league. Those are two quality wins.”
Sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander chipped in 10 points and 7 rebounds. Senior forward Malcolm Chimezie added 8 points and 10 rebounds. And senior guard Ben Palacios provided a spark off the bench with 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting.
For the game, the Terriers were 22 for 54 from the field and connected on 13 of 27 3-pointers, silencing any question marks about BU’s inconsistent long-range shooting for the time being.
“I thought we grew a lot this week,” Jones said. “We let one slip away and came back here and fought.”
“Hopefully, this will help our confidence in each other as we move forward.”