Powered by the post, BU men's basketball delivers complete performance in first win of season over Dartmouth
Forwards Ben Defty (10 points), Malcolm Chimezie (9) and Nico Nobili (8) thrived down low for the Terriers, who also got 21 points from sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander in a 78-50 win at Case Gym.
BOSTON – The Boston University men’s basketball team threw the ball to the post early and often on Saturday afternoon.
Forwards Ben Defty, Malcolm Chimezie and Nico Nobili thrived, as the Terriers outscored Dartmouth 42-16 in the paint.
It led to BU’s first win of the season, a 78-50 runaway victory at Case Gym.
When the Terriers (1-3) got into the paint, it was effortless. Defty finished with 10 points, Chimezie had nine and Nobili, eight. Chimezie was 4-for-5 shooting. Defty and Nobili were each 4 of 6.
“If you look at their numbers, there are times they’re not getting the ball enough,” BU head coach Joe Jones said. “But tonight we got them the ball. And they were able to finish.”
Granted, Dartmouth (2-2) is a weaker, less physical opponent without any rotation players taller than 6-foot-8. The Big Green have lost 19 straight road games, dating back to January 2023. But a win is a win and BU looked impressive doing it.
“For me, being a freshman, just to get that BU win, definitely a great accomplishment of ours,” said guard Azmar Abdullah. “Definitely been a dream of mine to get a Division I win.”
“I’m not a freshman anymore but it still feels the same,” said sophomore guard Kyrone Alexander. “First win of the season. First of many. We’re gonna build from it.”
Alexander led BU in scoring for the third time in four games, dropping 21 points, the highest mark for any Terrier this season, on 7-for-12 shooting and 4 of 8 from 3. He also added a team-leading nine rebounds.
“I just got in a zone, to be honest,” Alexander said.
BU opened the game scoring 18 of its first 19 points in the paint. The lone point outside the paint came from a Matai Baptiste free throw, one he earned by attacking the rim.
The constant interior success led Dartmouth to switch from a man defense to a 3-2 zone with just over six minutes remaining in the first half.
It was the logical choice. BU was 0 for 7 from 3 to that point. And while the Big Green zone worked for a few possessions, Alexander made them pay.
He connected on BU’s first 3 of the game with 4:26 remaining in the first half. He knocked down a baseline step-back jumper on the next possession. A minute later, he connected on another 3 to cap a solo 8-0 run that gave BU a 32-19 advantage, its largest of the game to that point.
It capped an extended 17-3 run over seven minutes.
“Just trusting in my ability, playing within the offense, staying confident,” Alexander said. “I think that helped me to just propelling into a good shot, so I could help my team.”
At the break, BU led 34-21. Dartmouth only scored seven points in the final 12 minutes of the half.
“We did a good job and it started and ended with our defense,” said Jones. “I thought we again defended really well at a really high level.”
For the game, BU held the Big Green to a 29.3 percent shooting clip (17 for 58).
Since the opener against Northeastern, which Jones tabbed as a disastrous defensive performance, BU has steadily improved on that end in each game.
“I think coming onto the Northeastern game, we were putting a lot of emotion and not necessarily paying close attention to detail on what we wanted to do,” said Alexander. “I think just really more attention to detail, being focused, being more connected as a group, kind of helped us to trend in the right direction.”
Dartmouth began the second half on a 9-4 run, knocking down three straight 3s. After that, BU cruised to victory, continually growing its lead throughout the half.
A 3-pointer by Abdullah capped a 14-0 Terrier run midway through the second half. In his fourth collegiate game, Abdullah notched career-highs in points (9), rebounds (6), assists (2), and minutes (17:06). He also added a chase-down block in transition.
“I was definitely hype about that,” Abdullah said of the block. “The ref actually told me not to stand over the dude like that, but it was definitely hype.”
Abdullah scored all nine of his points in the second half. He scored in a variety of ways, connecting on a 3, a contested step-back jumper, a layup, and two free throws.
“He gives us a whole nother dimension,” Jones said. “He’s a very talented player, and we haven’t had a lot of guys like him that can just go score the ball. He can score it.”
When it wasn’t shots from Alexander and Abdullah, BU continued to go to the well, as it had in the first half. The Terriers scored 20 of their 42 paint points in the second half. A slam by Defty with under seven minutes to go garnered a roar of approval from the BU bench.
Overall, BU shot 54.5 percent (30 for 55). After two and half games of putrid long-range shooting, the 3s even started to fall in the second half, as the Terriers were 4 for 9 from deep in the last 20 minutes.
“We had good balance, because we scored the ball at the rim,” Jones said. “When we get the inside, outside game going, we’re tough to beat.”
Graduate guard Miles Brewster also chipped in 9 points and 6 rebounds. BU had six players with eight or more points.
“We have a lot of depth. And I think our overall skillset on the offensive end is very sound,” said Jones. “We can play, you know, 10 dudes that are all pretty good players.”
“And when you have that, you have the size up front, you know, you got a chance to have a really good year.”
