Men’s Basketball: BU extends winning streak to four behind “great defensive effort”

By Michael Wax 

Boston University men’s basketball extended its Patriot League-best record to 8-3 on Wednesday night, defeating the UMass Lowell River Hawks (6-4, 0-0 AEC) 72-62 in front of home fans.

It was a total team effort, with the Terriers playing stiff defense through every moment of the game. The River Hawks shot 35.6% from the field, their lowest shooting percentage of the season.

“That was probably one of our better defensive games,” said BU head coach Joe Jones. “Coming off a game when we were really poor defensively, this was a great defensive effort.”

BU caught fire in the last eight minutes of the first half, outscoring UMass Lowell 21-10 and finding its stride from beyond the arc.

Junior guard Garrett Pascoe and sophomore guard Caelan Jones combined for BU’s defining moment of the first half, with Pascoe jumping out of bounds for a rebound and Jones hitting an important three on the other end to give the Terriers their first double-digit lead of the game.

Jones was complimentary of his bench’s play – “Our bench really impacted the game tonight, and they did it with their defense as much as their offense,” he noted.

UMass Lowell attempted to make a comeback at the beginning of the second half, headlined by senior Everette Hammond’s eight points and four rebounds.

“If you look at all [UMass’] games, they’ve made runs,” Jones said. “They’re a much better second-half team than first-half team… we have got to do a better job of taking care of the ball and staying focused on what we need to do.”

Jones understood that the River Hawks would come out flying in the second half, and urged his team to stick to the game plan. Though BU’s defense held up, Jones felt the team didn’t do enough offensively.

“We got a little sloppy offensively in the second half with 17 turnovers,” Jones said. “We have to do better.”

The Terriers eventually stopped the bleeding as the second half progressed, but Coach Jones is aware the score could have turned out much differently.

“We left the door open enough,” Jones said, “If they made a few more plays, it could have gotten more interesting.”

The Terriers take on Dartmouth at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.