Men’s Basketball: Terriers Defeat Navy 83-72

By: Matt Doherty

Kyle Foreman, John Papale, and Eric Fanning combined for 50 points on 64% shooting as the Boston University Men’s Basketball notched their third consecutive win with an 83-72 victory over the Navy Midshipmen on Wednesday night.

The Terriers came out scorching hot from the field making 16 of their first 22 shot attempts to open up a 45-35 lead at halftime. BU continued their dominant offensive efforts in the second half as the solid Navy defense could not slow down the Terriers all game long en route to the win for the visitors.

Foreman, a freshman guard, tied a career with 17 points highlighted by a 4-4 mark from three point land. He had 12 of those 17 points in the first half and also tallied 4 assists and 3 rebounds on the night.

Joining Foreman atop the stat sheet was senior guard John Papale who scored a game high 18 points knocking down two three pointers and 8 free throws just a game after hitting a buzzer beater that landed #1 on the Sportscenter Top 10.

Eric Fanning also scored 15 points going 5 for 6 from the field including making his first five shots of the game in the first half.

BU excelled on the glass out rebounding Navy 39-26. Nathan Dieudonne recorded 14 boards, his 6th double digit rebound game in the last 8 games. The senior forward had to pick up the slack with fellow leading rebounder Nick Havener playing only 10 minutes due to foul trouble.

Jace Hogan had a season high 22 points off the bench for the Midshipmen with Tilman Dunbar right behind him with 20 points of his own. Navy leading scorer Shawn Anderson was held to just 5 points in 18 minutes play dealing with foul trouble.

The Midshipmen killed themselves from the three point line shooting just 2-16 (12.5%), a season worst, while the Terriers made 9-15 (60%).

After being down double digits for the majority of the second half, Dunbar led a late comeback cutting the BU lead to four with a little over 2 minutes remaining.

On the ensuing Midshipmen possession, Blaise Mbargorba came up with a huge block on the defensive end and then made a layup on the other end pushing the Terrier lead to six.

Mbargorba affected all aspects of the game scoring 7 points, grabbing 7 rebounds, and coming up with a season high 5 blocks.

Papale then went 8/8 from the free throw line in the final minute to ice the game for BU.

As a team BU shot an amazing 58% from the field and scored 83 points against a Navy defense that holds their opponents to 62 PPG and 40% shooting.

BU had arguably their best offensive night of the season and couldn’t have came at a better time. The road win over 2nd place and 16-8 Navy is their second consecutive road win against the service schools.

The Terriers improved to 13-11 overall and 6-5 in the Patriot League. This is the first time BU has been above .500 in league play this season and the Terriers have a formidable schedule for the rest of the season as they try to make a run to the top of the standings.

Currently sitting tied for third at 6-5, BU plays their next three games against teams they have already beaten this season.

Joe Jones’s squad will look to win their season high fourth straight when they travel to Pennsylvania to take on Lafayette on Saturday, a team they beat by 21 a month ago. Tip-off from Easton is scheduled for 2PM.