BU men’s basketball falls on the road — again — to Holy Cross, 72-52
Three days after scoring 87 points, the Terriers only scored 52 as their road woes continued against last-place Holy Cross.
WORCESTER, Mass. — The Boston University men’s basketball team is now only three games away from going winless on the road in Patriot League play.
After Saturday afternoon’s loss at Holy Cross, BU is 0-6 away from Case Gym during the conference slate, a mind-blowing record considering the Terriers haven’t lost at home in over two months.
BU isn’t a bad team, but for some reason, it is certainly a bad one on the road. Never was it more clear than Saturday at the Hart Center, where the Terriers fell to the last-place Crusaders, 72-52, three days after hanging a season-high 87 points on Navy at home (excluding a Division III game).
BU (12-13, 6-6 PL) entered averaging 77 over its last four games — a stretch that included a 69-59 win over Holy Cross at home — but the Terriers looked far more like the team that was last in the PL in basically every offensive category through the first third of the conference slate. BU shot just 35.1 percent on Saturday.
The Terriers, who entered tied for fourth place in a crowded conference, lost critical ground and are now at least 2.5 games out of the top spot.
It was a putrid performance at the start, with BU failing to record an assist for almost eight minutes. 13 minutes into the game, the Terriers had only 12 points and an assist/turnover ratio of 2-7; at that same juncture against Navy, they had 29 points.
BU was equally bad on defense, with head coach Joe Jones lamenting his team’s inability to switch ball screens correctly throughout the first half. He screamed at his players constantly, but after a series of easy HC buckets opened up a 15-point lead with five minutes to go in the half, Jones called a desperate timeout and was actually smiling — in apparent disbelief — at what was happening in front of him.
BU got better in the second half, only for star Crusader freshman Max Green to shut the door with a late eruption at both ends. Holy Cross’ leading scorer finished with 18 points, 5 assists, a steal and a block.
To start the second half, the Terriers were active at the offensive end and got the HC lead down to as low as four, but ultimately, they couldn’t execute at a high enough level to complete a comeback. Missed layups hurt BU, as did a few poorly timed turnovers. A scoreless stretch of 4:49 after the midway point of the half doomed the Terriers, who eventually fell behind by 20.
Freshman guard Azmar Abdullah (14 points) and sophomore guard Mike McNair (13) led BU, and freshman 7-footer Ben Defty (5) made big contributions off the bench.
Ultimately, though, BU left Worcester in the same place it arrived — in desperate need of a road win and quickly running out of time to get one.