Instant takeaways from BU men's basketball's 68-66 win over Loyola Maryland
Kyrone Alexander dominated all game, then hit the game-winning bucket with 25 seconds to go.
BOSTON — The toughness the Boston University men’s basketball team plays with at Case Gym has been nearly impossible to defeat this season, and on Wednesday night, Loyola Maryland was the 10th consecutive team to succumb to it.
The Greyhounds (10-16, 5-10 Patriot League) put up a real fight and held a 3-point lead with under two minutes to go. But the Terriers (14-14, 8-7 PL) found a way again.
Sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander scored the go-ahead mid-range jumper with 25 seconds to go. Loyola Maryland sharpshooter Jacob Theodosiou found a good look for a game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds, but his shot was well short, and the Terriers escaped with a 68-66 win, their 10th in a row at home.
It’s the program’s longest home winning streak since 1996-97.
Here are two takeaways from the victory:
Kyrone Alexander did it all.
BU’s leading scorer was unstoppable on Wednesday night. On the Terriers’ first offensive possession, he drove against athletic Loyola guard Jordan Stiemke, stopped on a dime, and drained a fadeaway mid-range jumper. It was not the last time Alexander did that to the Greyhounds.
With a minute and a half to go in regulation and BU trailing by 3, Alexander went into isolation against a bigger defender. He couldn’t create any space, but somehow managed to get a shot off from the elbow, which he drained — plus the foul. Graduate guard Miles Brewster put his hands on his head in disbelief.
Alexander made the free throw to tie the game with 1:12 to go, before nailing the winning jumper less than a minute later.
The sophomore guard hunted his spots all night, and Loyola was powerless to stop him. He finished with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He scored 16 points and was 8 for 9 on shots inside the 3-point line. He added six rebounds, too — two of them offensive — and dished out four assists. The Greyhounds sent extra help his way on several occasions, and he easily found the resulting weak spot in the defense.
Alexander also had two steals.
It was an All-Patriot League type of performance from a player who is certainly capable of those.
BU was excellent offensively… even though it couldn’t make 3s.
The bad news first: BU shot just 7 of 27 from downtown on Wednesday night, and those 27 3-pointers weren’t bad shots, either.
The Terriers missed countless wide-open triples, especially from the corners. Everyone — including BU’s best 3-point shooters — missed them, and in every type of way — twice, junior forward Nico Nobili airballed a wide-open 3-pointer. Sharpshooting sophomore guard Mike McNair, BU’s leading 3-point shooter who had started every game this season, wasn’t with the team on Wednesday night. Still, the Terriers weren’t any less hesitant to shoot 3s. They just missed them.
The good news: BU worked open a ton of shots.
The Terriers offense was excellent at home again — shooting 51 percent from the field despite all the missed 3s. Alexander led the way, but freshman 7-footer Ben Defty had 12 points off the bench and Brewster finished with 16.
When BU got the ball into the post, Defty and senior forward Malcolm Chimezie (six points) dominated. Alexander and Brewster easily penetrated off the dribble drive all game.