Men’s Basketball: BU falls at the wire against Maine for first home loss

Featured Image by Jacob Ireland

By Sam Robb O’Hagan

BOSTON — Miles Brewster took a seat at his press conference in a lounge above Case Gym and, for the first time this season, didn’t know what to say. When asked about his 1-for-8 shooting on the night, he first gave a long “um,” then tried to stretch out an answer, before shaking his head, leaning back in his chair, and, while not saying much of anything, saying it all.

“Just gotta go to the next game. I mean, I don’t — I don’t —… yeah,” the senior guard said.

If any one of Boston University men’s basketball’s (3-6) players was going to have an answer after BU’s down-to-the-wire 74-65 loss to Maine (7-4) on Wednesday, it was Brewster, the team’s unquestioned leader and a constant spark plug of smiles, jokes, and words around Case Gym. But, asked plenty of questions over a 12-minute conference — namely why the Terriers couldn’t finish what was a tied game with 4:14 left — Brewster didn’t have any answers.

Probably because there simply weren’t any. A loss like this? It happens.

“I don’t know if that answers your question, just move on to the next game, bro,” Brewster said at one point after noticeably trying to find an answer but instead having to settle on throwing a hand up and letting out a wry smile.

BU’s last lead in the game came with six minutes left in the first half. But, the Terriers, facing a deficit that was at times as high as 11, chipped and chipped and chipped away at it in the second 20 minutes. At multiple points they brought the game within five, then three, then one, and then with just over four minutes to go, freshman wing Matai Baptiste hit the game-tying 3-pointer.

“I was proud of our guys tonight, I thought in the second half, we were kind of grinding, putting ourselves in a position to win it,” BU head coach Joe Jones said.

Brewster, struggling to find answers throughout his presser, dished out one in particular multiple times: “I thought we fought.”

But they never regained the lead, and after trailing 62-60 during a media timeout with 3:26 left and two free throws coming for sophomore forward Otto Landrum, the Terriers were outscored 12-5 the rest of the game.

Landrum missed one of his two free throws, as did freshman guard Kyrone Alexander a minute later. Then, a bizarre turnover from Landrum as he attempted an entry pass into the post that ended up flying into the backboard, as well as two critical corner 3-pointers from senior Maine forward Peter Filipovity, doomed BU.

“I don’t even think we played horribly, just have to be able to execute and not turn the ball over,” Brewster said of his team’s struggles down the final stretch. Jones echoed: “We just need to be able to execute better.”

For their part, the Black Bears made clutch plays on offense throughout the second half, particularly in the last three minutes. Junior guard Kellen Tynes shot 7-of-12 from the field, making tough mid-range after tough mid-range in the second period. One of them was critical: a free-throw line jumper after Landrum’s missed free throw to put Maine back up by three.

Another thing for Brewster and Jones to throw their hands up at.

“Tynes made some big shots, man,” Jones said. “Those are shots that we’re trying to force people to make — contested two’s — and he friggin’ made ‘em. You know, you tip your hat.”

As for Filipovity, who finished with 20 points on 7-for-13 shooting and made the two dagger 3s in the waning minutes? “Our scout on him was, you know, we want him to take 3s, so it’s tough,” Brewster said.

The only straw Brewster or Jones grabbed at to explain their late collapse was free-throw shooting — BU shot just 10-for-19 from the stripe throughout the game. “You can’t go 10-for-19. If you look at it, to me, that’s how we ended up losing the game,” Jones said.

In open play in the final minutes, though, Maine made the plays that BU didn’t. It’s a reality, maybe even an inevitability, of the sport. But it was especially untimely on Wednesday, because for a majority of the second half as they climbed back within striking distance, the Terriers did make the plays.

Consider sophomore guard Ben Roy, who, after an errant pass from a teammate that gave the Black Bears what looked like a free layup at the other end, screeched in from the other side of the court and came up with a sudden steal that eventually led to a made 3-pointer for the Terriers. A five-point play with nine minutes left.

Or consider freshman guard Kyrone Alexander, who looked destined to turn the ball over after slipping in the middle of the paint with the ball in his hands, but, as he laid on the hardwood, miraculously found a cutting Landrum for a momentum-shifting dunk with under seven minutes left. 

A couple minutes later, Alexander found a loose ball in that very same spot, and after stumbling over the moving limbs around him, made a behind-the-back, no-look pass to junior guard Ethan Okwuosa for a layup. Both assists brought the Terriers within one. Alexander finished with three, while scoring 13 points and corralling 4 rebounds.

“I could tell you, we played winning basketball,” Jones said.

The Terriers played winning basketball and made winning plays. Until they didn’t.

“We just weren’t able to make the plays (in the final minutes),” Jones said. “But we were in reach, and I think that is definitely progress.”

Progress, for a team that rosters eight Division I rookies, including four freshmen. Only Brewster had more than 1,000 minutes of experience coming into Wednesday. Here, perhaps, was the answer. Maybe, BU is just so abnormally young and so perilously inexperienced that progress was good enough, that being within reach was good enough. Maybe, a team this young simply needs to take losses like these.

Nope.

“After you play nine games, I think now we got to step away from the youth and stop talking about that,” Jones said. “I’m not going there anymore. We got to get it done, now.”

So, on to the next the Terriers go. BU will travel to Staten Island, New York on Sunday at 1 p.m. to take on Wagner. 

Before then, they’ll dive into the film and search for the answers that eluded them. All while they know they need to move on. Balancing the two is now the task at hand.

“You have to be able to analyze your (losses) and think about them critically,” Brewster said, with irony written all over his face.

“And then, forget about them.”