BU men’s basketball executes flawlessly down the stretch to earn a comeback win, and a potential turning point, at Maine
The Terriers closed the contest on a 10-0 run to walk out of Orono, Maine, with a comeback victory. Mike McNair (16 points), Kyrone Alexander (13) and Malcolm Chimezie (8) fueled the rally.
Kellen Tynes drove middle, drew two BU defenders, and kicked out to an open Christopher Mantis on the right wing.
With three seconds on the shot clock, Mantis rose up over the late closeout of sophomore guard Mike McNair and watched as his 3-pointer fell through the net, giving his Maine Black Bears a 56-49 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
BU head coach Joe Jones called timeout. The Terriers, who had taken their first lead since a 5-4 advantage minutes earlier, looked dead in the water. Mantis had just punctuated a 10-2 run to give Maine a three-possession cushion.
But the Boston University men’s basketball team brilliantly executed the final two minutes, closing the contest on a 10-0 run to walk out of Memorial Gym in Orono, Maine with an improbable 59-56 victory on Sunday afternoon.
“Just a phenomenal team win. Really proud of our effort and our toughness,” said Jones, whose team improved to 6-7 in the non-conference finale. “We really had to scrap and claw to get this one.”
Following the timeout from Jones, sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander drilled a straightaway 3 off a feed from graduate Miles Brewster, cutting the deficit to four.
Freshman guard Azmar Abdullah played strong defense on the next trip, forcing Tynes (17 points) into a missed fadeaway baseline jumper.
The rebound was hauled in by Brewster, who pushed the pace and found Alexander on the wing. Alexander took one dribble to draw a defender and made the extra pass to McNair in the corner. McNair hit nothing but net, slicing the deficit to one, 56-55, with 1:08 remaining.
“It was a good read,” said McNair. “I just try to trust in my work I’ve put in and just shoot the shot.”
On the ensuing possession, Tynes drew a foul on the drive against Abdullah and went to the line for a one-and-one. However, he missed the front-end free throw. Senior forward Malcolm Chimezie skied for the rebound with 36 seconds remaining, giving BU a chance for the lead.
Alexander got the ball at the top of the key and found Malcolm in the Middle. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Chimezie played bully ball inside, backing down 6-foot-10 junior Killian Gribben beneath the rim and finishing a lefty baby hook from point blank range, willing the Terriers to a 57-56 lead with 21 seconds to go.
“I’m very confident with the work I’ve put in with my body and my game, so when I got in that position I was comfortable and I knew it was automatic,” said Chimezie.
He did the same thing in the final minute against UAlbany on Dec. 9, sending the game to overtime on his patented back-down move.
Chimezie finished with eight points, all in the second half, and seven rebounds. The Terriers continued to look to him when they needed a bucket.
“There’s not too many guys at this level that can guard him,” said Jones. “He’s so big and strong and physical.”
“In the first half, they did a good job of taking away his touches down there. And then at times, we weren’t patient enough,” Jones continued. “But as the game goes on, I think that’s hard to do for a full 40 minutes.”
Needing a stop to hold onto its one-point advantage, McNair halted Mantis’s inside drive just inside the free throw line, forcing the Black Bear senior guard into a smothered short-range jumper that came up well short, landing out of bounds with 3.7 ticks on the clock.
With Maine (8-7) forced to foul on the ensuing inbound, senior guard Ben Palacios drilled both free throws, granting the Terriers a 3-point advantage.
Mantis threw one last Hail Mary heave, but McNair intercepted the pass and BU ran out the remaining seconds.
“When it came to winning time, I thought our guys made a lot of winning plays,” said Jones.
BU’s execution down the stretch was flawless. Four straight scores. Four straight stops. It resulted in a much-needed win to close the non-conference slate.
“It’s one of those games that I think we’ll look back on and say it was a turning point for us,” said Jones.
The Terriers entered on a two-game losing streak, which seemed to be heading towards three for most of the contest.
BU trailed for 33 minutes and had its lowest-scoring first half of the season.
The Terriers scored just 19 points in the opening 20 minutes. They shot 7 of 26 from the floor, 2 for 11 from 3 and turned the ball over nine times. Scoring the basketball hadn’t looked more difficult this season than it did in the opening frame.
Maine did well denying passing lanes into the post, especially from the wing, by fronting on the high side of BU’s forwards and pushing them outside the painted area.
Maine’s guards, led by Tynes, the reigning America East Defensive Player of the Year, were not any easier on the Terriers. They disrupted BU’s offensive sets and did not allow interior penetration.
BU was forced into late-clock situations, including two shot-clock violations.
“They came out with so much pressure. We really had a hard time running anything,” Jones said.
Graduate point guard and preseason All-Patriot League selection Miles Brewster, typically tasked with running the offense, committed three first-half fouls in under five minutes of game action. When he picked up his third on a reach-in, Jones had no choice but to sit him for the final 12 minutes and 40 seconds of the half.
“I thought that was a big deal too, not having him in there,” said Jones. “We kind of struggled at times.”
But the Terriers, who trailed 27-19 at halftime, looked like a different team after the break.
BU shot 13 for 22 from the field, 5 for 10 from deep, and only coughed it up five times. Big-time shots from McNair (team-high 16 points) and Alexander (13 points, 10 in the second half) helped close the gap.
“Both those guys are winners,” said Jones. “I thought those guys looked like All-League players tonight.”
The aforementioned Chimezie was huge as well.
But, maybe most importantly, the Terriers ramped up their defense in the second half, a task they have failed to accomplish, and Jones has belabored all season.
Maine was held to 9 for 26 shooting in the second half, and just 2 of 9 from 3. BU turned those stops into scores, especially in the waning moments.
“The thing I’m really pleased with is that they shot 34 percent in the second half,” said Jones. “We were outstanding.”
And in a comeback win, where BU fell behind by as many as 11 points, the Terriers could not have asked for a better confidence booster heading into the Patriot League opener at Lafayette on Thursday.
“We came into this game with the mindset that this was a conference game,” said Chimezie, “so it feels good to have momentum going into Lafayette.”