Men’s Basketball: Terriers fall to UMass Lowell on the road

By Charlie DeMatteo

Boston University Men’s Basketball (7-6) fell 68-60 to the UMass Lowell River Hawks (12-2) on the road on Wednesday afternoon in a back-and-forth game.

The Terriers, who returned home for the first time in a month last time out in a win over Dartmouth, struggled to maintain control in a tightly contested affair.

“I liked the fact that we fought,” BU Head Coach Joe Jones said. “I just thought in the last five minutes or so they were able to make more plays than we did.”

Lowell went on a 10-1 run in the final four minutes of regulation, turning a 57-55 lead into a 67-56 to get the edge over the Terriers.

BU led at halftime 30-28 after a solid performance from senior guard Ethan Brittain-Watts, who had eight first-half points and ended with 16. However, a lack of a presence down low was cited as an issue by Jones in their defeat to Lowell.

“Our 2-point field goal percentage on offense right now is really bad,” Jones said. “We’ve always had a really good low post scorer and right now we are just a little inconsistent inside.”

The Terriers’ two notable big men are Nevin Zink and Malcolm Chimezie. Zink finished with nine points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field while Chimezie finished with just two points.

For the River Hawks, Adoul Coulibaly led all scorers with 21 points and 11 rebounds in a stellar performance. 

The two teams traded blows throughout the game with 10 lead changes taking place. However, once Lowell took a 39-38 lead with 14 minutes remaining in the second half, they didn’t go behind again.

The Terriers went 9-for-26 from 3-point range while Lowell went just 2-for-9. While the Terriers did a bit of damage from beyond the arc, the River Hawks’ superior field goal percentage (47% compared to BU’s 33%) was a key factor in their win.

Jones was upbeat despite the loss, citing Lowell’s impressive start to the season as a sign that this game could teach his Terriers a lot.

“You never want to lose a game, but I thought you could really get a lot out of this loss,” Jones said.

The Terriers will look to make a strong start in conference play when they take on the Navy Midshipmen on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.