Men’s Basketball Ends Regular Season with Consecutive Wins

By: Greg Levinsky

WEST POINT, N.Y. — With less than 30 seconds to go in his second appearance back from a four-game absence, freshman guard Walter Whyte penetrated through the defense with a strong drive for two of his co-team-high 10 points, and tacked on a free-throw as the Boston University Men’s Basketball team outlasted Army, 61-59, on Saturday afternoon in West Point.

After an unconscious first-half shooting display in which the Terriers (14-15, 10-8 Patriot League) connected on 14-of-17 shots, including seven of nine from beyond the arc, Army (13-16, 6-12) hunkered down on defense. They held the Terriers to just 27.3 percent from the field in the second half.

“In the second half, they started really pressuring us, the pressure really got to us,” Boston University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Joe Jones said.

Trailing 59-58 with 25 seconds left, sophomore forward Tyler Scanlon found Whyte after a steal for the go-ahead bucket and free throw.

“It was great to see our guys not wilt under the pressure,” Jones said.

Whyte, classmate Javante McCoy and senior guard Cedric Hankerson all co-lead the Terriers with 10 points apiece. In just the second game having all 11 available players healthy in over a month, Jones took pride in his team’s performance down the stretch run, playing to their potential.

“When we have everybody back, I don’t know what our record is, but it’s really good,” Jones said. “When we’re at full strength we’re a tough team to beat.

Senior forward Luke Morrison netted a game-high 14 points for the Black Knights, freshman Alex King added 11 and sophomore Tommy Funk contributed 10 points.

Despite surrendering a season-high 24 turnovers, the Terriers willed a victory in their final regular season contest.

“That’s a great character win this late in the year,” Jones said.

With Lehigh’s win over Lafayette on Saturday night, the Terriers will travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for the conference quarterfinals against the Mountain Hawks. The series gets underway on March 1.