BU men's basketball rallies but falls short at Army
BU fell behind by 23 points. A second-half rally cut that deficit to three, but the Terriers could not complete the comeback.
AJ Allenspach caught a pass in the post and finished over junior forward Otto Landrum with ease. The senior forward’s layup gave Army a 23-point lead with under two minutes remaining in the first half.
The Boston University men’s basketball team looked lifeless all half and dug itself into an almost insurmountable hole.
The Terriers scored 20 first-half points, shooting 7-of-20 from the field and 2-for-11 from 3. To make matters worse, they also committed eight turnovers.
BU looked like a different team after halftime, cutting the deficit to three, but it was unable to get over the hump and fell, 68-62, to Army (10-8, 4-2 Patriot League) at Christl Arena on Saturday afternoon.
“We really struggled offensively to find a rhythm in the first half. Then we got frustrated and drifted apart,” BU head coach Joe Jones said.
“Really proud of the effort in the second half of getting back in the game and really showing a ton of fight. You know, that’s something we can build off of,” he added.
In the opening half, BU (9-10, 3-3 PL) struggled to find its post players inside. Army’s forwards positioned themselves in front of the Terrier bigs, cutting off passing lanes into the paint. BU’s four forwards combined for two points and two shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Army implemented the same defense at Case Gym on Jan. 5, but BU’s guards stepped up to deliver the victory. The Terriers did not have those same answers on Saturday.
BU’s starting guards and three leading scorers — sophomores Kyrone Alexander and Mike McNair and graduate Miles Brewster — combined for 20 points on 6-of-22 shooting and 3-for-16 from deep.
“They were making it hard to get in. And then we didn’t make shots,” said Jones. “We were 3-for-16 from our starting guards, and that makes it tough.”
The Terriers began the contest with three straight turnovers, including a shot clock violation on the very first trip. Throughout the opening half, they tossed the ball around the perimeter for close to 30 seconds, not generating any pressure on the rim.
“This is the first team I’ve had where we’ve taken so many shots at the end of the shot clock,” Jones said. “We’ve got to change that.”
BU had a second stretch of three straight turnovers with six minutes left in the half. Two of them led to transition points for Army sophomore guard Josh Scovens (15 points).
“On the road, you turn the ball over eight times against a team that runs, you’re going to be in trouble,” said Jones.
On the defensive end, BU offered little to no resistance in the first half. The Black Knights scored 41 points on 14-of-22 shooting and 5-for-11 from 3. After a slow start, scoring just 13 points in the first nine minutes, Army scored 28 in the next 11.
“Once the game started to get hard, mentally, I thought we struggled and we weren’t alert,” Jones said. “We just were hoping that they missed. We weren’t really doing what you need to do to win.”
BU gave up runs of 14-0, 6-0 and 7-0 as Army took a commanding lead.
“I think our guys got frustrated with the way things were going offensively, and I thought it led to poor defense,” said Jones.
Led by junior guard Ben Roy, the Terriers turned a corner in the second half. Roy relentlessly attacked the rim, and Army had no answer. He finished with a career-high 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, 13 of which came in the second half.
“Ben was outstanding tonight,” said Jones. “He was terrific.”
BU, on occasion, also found passes into the post after halftime. It didn’t happen as frequently as Jones would have hoped for, but junior forwards Nobili and Landrum executed well together in the high-low game. Nobili scored six points inside, all in the second half. Landrum assisted on all three of those baskets and scored a bucket of his own.
That duo scored on three straight possessions midway through the second half, cutting a 13-point deficit to seven. It capped off a 9-0 run started by a Roy 3.
They paired up once more after Landrum missed a free throw, grabbed his own rebound and found a cutting Nobili for a layup that cut the deficit to five with six minutes remaining.
The offense looked much more dynamic, scoring 42 on 15-of-26 shooting with just one turnover after halftime.
“We played a completely different half,” Jones said.
But each time the Terriers gained momentum, Jalen Rucker had an answer.
The 5-foot-10 senior guard, and the Patriot League’s leading scorer, drilled shot after shot to keep BU at bay.
Rucker drilled a contested 3 over Brewster to end that 9-0 run. He nailed an 8-footed over Roy to extend Army’s lead to seven with seven minutes remaining. A deep 3 followed by a lefty hook layup on consecutive possessions kept the Black Knights up by eight with under five to go.
Rucker finished with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 4-of-7 from deep.
“Those shots that he made in the second half are tough shots for most guys. It’s an easy shot for him,” Jones said.
BU tried to find a response, but never combined the stops and scores it needed to have a possession with the chance to tie or take the lead. The closest BU got was three, down 63-60 with 1:38 to play after Alexander made two free throws. But Scovens drilled a midrange jumper, and the Terriers failed to answer.
After a 5-4 road campaign in the Patriot League a year ago, BU is off to an 0-3 road start in conference.
“When we hit some adversity on the road, for some reason, we haven’t fought through,” said Jones. “We’re gonna have to do that.”
“Some of the plays are there,” he added. “We’re just struggling to make ‘em.”
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