Men’s Basketball: BU comeback falls just short in loss at Northeastern

By Mitch Fink 

Boston University men’s basketball (1-2, 0-0 PL) squandered an opportunity to complete a comeback against Northeastern University (1-2, 0-0 CAA), falling just short in a 49-48 road loss to the Huskies Tuesday night.  

After scoring 85 points in a high-scoring rout over Gordon College on Friday, the Terriers found themselves locked in a defensive battle with their local rivals. 

Neither team shot higher than 40% from the field, and the game featured a notable lack of three-point shotmaking from both squads – BU shot just 1-18 from behind the arc, while Northeastern went 2-18 from long distance. 

Head Coach Joe Jones noted an improvement in his team’s effort and intensity despite the defeat. 

“We’re really proud of our effort,” Jones said postgame. “I thought we generated enough good ones, good looks, to win the game. And we just didn’t.”

The Huskies’ 2-3 zone stymied the Terriers early in the first half, forcing them into turnovers and bad shots at the end of the shot clock and limiting BU’s shotmaking ability in its half-court sets.

BU finally found its rhythm by driving into the paint and working in the low post. A series of drives from senior forward Walter Whyte and post-ups by junior forward Nevin Zink provided a majority of the Terriers’ first-half offensive production. The pair combined to score 13 of BU’s 20 first-half points. 

Northeastern found similar success at the rim, and the score remained tight throughout the half.

The Huskies found a jolt of momentum just before the break when a buzzer-beating dunk by Shaquille Walters rocked the rim and electrified the Northeastern faithful to give them a 25-20 advantage at the half.

Northeastern capitalized on the energy from Walters’ slam in the early second half, posting a 7-0 run to extend its lead to 12. 

Turnovers and missed looks continued to plague the Terriers early in the period, allowing the Huskies to maintain their double-digit advantage.

BU began to chip away at the deficit at the midway point of the second half, with timely buckets from the Terriers’ starting unit pulling BU within striking distance. 

Clutch scores from guard Javante McCoy and forward Sukhmail Mathon eventually cut the Northeastern lead to three, and BU forced a missed shot by Northeastern to take possession back with a chance to tie the game. 

Jones called a timeout, and BU inbounded the ball in the frontcourt with 15 seconds on the clock. The Terriers couldn’t find an open look from three-point range and waited for several seconds to look for a quick two-point score. Whyte hit a lay-up with two seconds left on the clock, but the score was too little, too late for BU, which didn’t have the time to get the ball back and launch a potential game-tying shot. 

“We took too long to get to the rim,” Jones said. He added that the Terriers were looking to find an open look from three-point range or drive to the rim with around six seconds left on the clock, but execution of the play fell short. 

BU will look to get back on track Thursday at 7:00 p.m., when the Terriers take on the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut.