BU men's basketball leans on its guards for first Patriot League win
Guards Mike McNair (17 points), Miles Brewster (12), Ben Roy (career-high 12), and Ben Palacios (10) led the Terriers to a win in the conference home opener.
Army went out of its way to take the Boston University men’s basketball team’s big men out of Sunday afternoon’s matchup at Case Gym. So BU’s guards responded.
Despite only 11 combined points from the Terriers’ four post players, sophomore Mike McNair drilled four crucial 3s in the second half and finished with a team-high 17 points. Graduate Miles Brewster added 12 points and four assists. Off the bench, junior Ben Roy erupted for a career-high 12 points and senior Ben Palacios added 10, all in the first half.
The Boston University men’s basketball team shot 68 percent in the first half, then buckled down for a rock fight in the second to defeat the Army Black Knights, 71-63, for its first win of Patriot League play at Case Gym on Sunday afternoon.
BU dropped its conference opener on the road to Lafayette on Thursday but looked like a different team on Sunday.
"You can argue the importance of non-conference for a team like us, but conference is everything," Brewster said. "It sucks we didn't win the last one, but we were able to figure it out today."
BU’s 68 percent clip (17 of 25) in the first half was its highest mark in a half this season, resulting in 40 points before the break to climb out of an early 10-point hole and take a five-point lead into halftime.
Near the end of the first half, BU went on a 12-0 run and made seven straight field goals.
Palacios got to the rim for a layup. Roy found senior forward Malcolm Chimezie for a dunk in transition. Roy then buried a high-arcing 3 over an outstretched contest to give the Terriers a 35-33 lead, their first since 9-8 early on.
“I think it’s just that energy off the bench,” said Roy of his and Palacios’ impact in an interview on the ESPN+ broadcast. “We got a deep team, we got guys who are talented and can go off when they want. So we just come in, play as hard as we can, and luckily our shots were falling so it worked out for us in the first half.”
Sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander banked in a 3 on the ensuing possession, stretching the BU lead to five. Then Brewster snagged a steal on a crosscourt pass and dished a pass to Roy on the 3-on-1 fast break to put the Terriers ahead 40-33.
BU only had 11 points midway through the first half but netted 29 in the final ten minutes of the frame. The Terriers, who struggled to find their forwards down low, found consistent offense by whipping the ball around the perimeter and penetrating into the lane for layups and floaters.
“We started getting to multiple actions, something that coach has been preaching and that we’ve been struggling on,” said Brewster.
“We turn the ball over a ton, trying to get it into the paint,” Jones said. “If we can get better at that and not force it and keep playing, get into the next action. I think we can eventually get what we’re looking for.”
“We have great post players, so we should be looking to them, but sometimes it’s to our detriment, where it stalls our offense,” Brewster added. “But when we’re playing and we’re getting the ball move side to side to side, that’s when our offense is at our best. And I think that’s what we did in that second half of this first half.”
McNair drilled a corner 3 on the opening possession of the second half, as BU picked up right where it left off.
Minutes later, McNair hid behind a screen and nailed a 3 from the wing.
“McNair was very good,” said Jones. “He played great. Shot it well.”
Turnaround jumpers in the lane by Alexander and Roy capped a 10-3 run and forced Army head coach Kevin Kuwik to call timeout.
Army responded with a 9-0 run out of the break. Senior guard Jalen Rucker, the Patriot League’s leading scorer, connected from deep, then drew a foul for an and-one layup on the ensuing possession.
“He’s a heck of a player,” said Jones.
Army sophomore guard Ryan Curry hit from long range on the next possession, cutting the Black Knight deficit to three, 50-47.
But before Army could extend its run, McNair responded with a straightaway 3 off an offensive rebound and a feed from Palacios to put BU up by six.
Then, a stalemate ensued. Neither side was able to score, except for a lone free throw by Brewster.
Army was held scoreless for close to six and a half minutes. BU went six minutes and 53 seconds in between field goals.
When the Black Knights broke their scoreless drought, it was Curry launching from Stephen Curry range, at the “U” in the BU midcourt logo.
On the next trip down, Curry pump-faked from deep to draw a defender and kicked to a wide-open Rucker for a 3. Jones called timeout with the Terriers nursing a 54-53 lead.
Out of the timeout, Brewster found a lane and got to the rim for a driving layup.
“We kind of just needed to take a breath, recuperate, and kind of just get back to what was working for us,” said Brewster.
Two offensive possessions later, Brewster used a screen from junior forward Otto Landrum to get into the lane and kick out to McNair. McNair’s 3 hit nothing but net.
“Mike’s a bucket. That dude can shoot,” said Brewster. “It’s a nice feeling when you drive and you kick it to him and he’s open. You’re like, oh, that’s an assist for me.”
To cap off a 7-0 run, Brewster drove middle, went up with the ball to draw the contest of Army senior forward AJ Allenspach, and dumped it down to Landrum for a layup.
It gave the Terriers a 61-53 advantage with four and a half minutes to play. From there, BU was able to earn its first Patriot League victory on free throws and a pair of layups courtesy of Brewster and Alexander.
“It means everything,” said Brewster of the win. “Conference means everything so we need to win these games.”