Men’s Basketball: Terriers drop regular season finale to Navy

By: Greg Levinsky

The Boston University men’s basketball team ended the regular season with a 79-74 loss to Navy Saturday at Case Gym.

The Terriers (14-17, 7-11 Patriot League) saw a three game winning streak snapped while the visiting Mids (11-18, 8-10) shot a blistering 72.0 percent in the opening half to take a double digit lead that would eventually be cut to as little as three before prevailing over host BU.

“The thing that’s hurt us the most, that hurt us today, that’s been our inability to stop people,” Boston University head coach Joe Jones said. “You’ve got to give Navy credit.”

Trailing by 12 with 1:47 to go, the Terriers mounted a comeback.

Jonas Harper (11 points) hit a 3-pointer and then Navy countered with a pair of free throws. Tyler Scanlon (18 points, 6 assists) and Andrew Petcash sunk back to back triples to make it 75-72 with 38 seconds left. The Mids made four free throws in the waning seconds to seal it.

“We’ve seen it time and time again in the last three or four minutes when we feel like we’re gonna lose, that’s how we start to play with unbelievable energy and desire,” Jones said. “We don’t play like that consistently enough.”

Navy made its first seven shots, five of which were assisted by senior guard Hasan Abdullah. He made one of the other shots, and was once on pace for 50 assists.

It didn’t last long as Navy didn’t score on its next four possessions, but the Mids fended off the Terriers in the opening half with an impressive offensive display. They hit 16 of their first 21 shots en route to building a lead that got up to 17 midway through the opening half and a 46-35 Navy halftime lead.

“This was kind of disappointing because I thought we were moving in the right direction,” Jones said. “Tonight from the start we weren’t really focused defensively.”

Freshman Garrett Pascoe’s 3-pointer cut BU’s deficit to single digits with 9:57 left in regulation, but the Mids responded with an 8-0 push to retake a double digit lead.

BU mounted the comeback, but couldn’t get all the way there.

They’re now going to host a first round game on Tuesday. The opponent will likely be Holy Cross.

Greg Levinsky can be reached at glevinsk@bu.edu. Follow him on Twitter @GregLevinsky