BU loses at Lowell Despite Mahoney’s Career Night
By: Matthew Doherty
LOWELL, Mass. — Despite a career performance from sophomore forward Max Mahoney, the Boston University men’s basketball dropped a 87-82 nail-bitter to the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Wednesday evening at the Costello Athletic Center.
The Terriers trailed by as many as ten points in the second half, but cut the Lowell lead to just one with 28 seconds left after Cedric Hankerson’s 3-pointer. After consecutive Riverhawk free throws, senior guard Will Goff missed a 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to seal the win for UMass Lowell (6-5). BU has now lost to Lowell two straight years and falls to 4-5 on the season.
“It was a tough loss,” Mahoney said. “It didn’t seem like we had it all together at times. Just a tough loss overall.”
The loss overshadowed a dominant performance from Mahoney, who scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed 11 rebounds on an efficient 14-of-18 shooting. It was the fourth game in a row that Mahoney reached double-digit scoring during this breakout stretch, which was rewarded with a start Wednesday.
“I was just trying to do what I can and control what I can control,” Mahoney said. “I tried to do the most with my touches and spread the ball around.”
For the second game in a row, BU shot over 55 percent from the field and for the first time under Head Coach Joe Jones, they lost a game shooting over that percentage. The problem for the Terriers came from the free throw line. BU outshot Lowell 56 percent to 50 from the field, and out rebounded them 38-26; but Lowell took 27 more foul shots than the visitors. The Terriers went 4-of-9 from the foul stripe while the Riverhawks went 28-of-36.
All five Lowell starters scored in double digits. UMass Lowell senior Matt Harris scored 27 points and classmate Jahad Thomas added 17 points for the Riverhawks.
Hankerson was second on BU in scoring with 20 points and freshman Walter Whyte was the only other Terrier in double digits; he scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Up Next: BU will be back in action Sunday afternoon when they host Elon University at 1 p.m. at Case Gym.