Men’s Basketball: Brewster, Okwuosa combine to win it at the buzzer as BU defeats Lehigh in overtime

By Henry Dinh-Price

Six seconds on the clock. The score knotted at 62. One last possession for BU. 

Miles Brewster caught the baseline inbounds pass with a head of steam. As he raced across halfcourt, two Lehigh defenders ran toward him. Brewster picked up his dribble and found a wide-open Ethan Okwuosa cutting to the rim. Okwuosa caught the ball in the paint and went up for a reverse layup. The ball rattled around, catching every piece of the rim, before falling through the net. 

Ball game. Terriers win 64-62. 

Silence struck the Stabler Arena crowd as the Scarlet and White celebrated at center court. 

 

“We like to cut. Ethan’s one of our best cutters,” Jones said. “I was teasing Miles that he wasn’t passing the ball when he got to the paint. He did a great job and Ethan made a great cut.” 

BU (13-16, 9-8 Patriot League) has now won four in a row. Four in a row. That statement would not have seemed possible just a couple of weeks ago. Before this win streak, BU had only won consecutive games once. It was 1-9 in games following a win. 

But the Terriers are clicking at the perfect time. With the win over Lehigh (12-16, 9-8 PL) on Wednesday, BU moved into fourth place in the Patriot League, its highest standing this season. 

“We’re playing our best,” Jones said. 

The ending was thrilling, but to even get to that point, the Terriers had to dig themselves out of a hole. BU trailed by as many as 12 points late in the first half and went into the break down 39-30. 

“I give a lot of credit to Lehigh. They were really hard to guard, especially in the first half,” said Jones. 

Lehigh junior guard Tyler Whitney-Sydney was the difference. He had 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting by halftime. 

Fellow junior guard Keith Higgins Jr. hit back-to-back 3s giving Lehigh its first double-digit advantage midway through the half. 

“Their perimeter guys were really hurting us. Higgins made some shots. (Whitney-Sydney) made some shots,” Jones said. “It’s funny I didn’t even realize that he had 16 in the first half. But I knew he played well.” 

Lehigh was 14-for-29 from the field and 6-for-10 from 3 in the opening 20 minutes. 

But BU’s defense shut them down after the break, holding the Patriot League’s top-scoring offense (73.7 points per game) to 19 points in the second half. 

Lehigh failed to score a field goal for almost six minutes early in the half. An 8-1 BU run over that span brought it within two, trailing 45-43.

“We just did a much better job hunkering down and guarding,” Jones said. “I think we can be one of the best defensive teams in the league when we’re focused on the right things.”

Lehigh stretched its lead back to five after Higgins buried a heavily contested midrange jumper to give the Mountain Hawks a 49-44 lead. 

But BU answered with six straight points. Brewster had the first four before Okwuosa went coast to coast. His layup with 9:13 remaining gave BU its first lead since the 17:45 mark of the first half.

“I thought he played really well offensively,” Jones said of Okwuosa. 

From there, BU and Lehigh went back and forth. Freshman guard Kyrone Alexander buried two free throws to put the Terriers ahead 58-56 with 4:10 remaining. 

Alexander shot 10-for-10 from the line, and as a team, BU made 18-of-20 free throws. 

“We’ve been shooting it better, knock on wood. We’ve been shooting it better from the free-throw line,” Jones said. “Standing up there and stickin’ ‘em.”

Senior forward Dominic Parolin (18 points) answered with a hook shot in the lane that rattled home. His game-tying shot with 3:48 remaining marked the last points of regulation. 

The final minutes of the second half were filled with shots that clanked off the iron. Neither team could find a go-ahead basket. 

“I thought both teams were really tired,” Jones said. “I thought we were gassed. I thought they were gassed.”

The misses continued to mount in overtime. 

That was until Parolin got the better of sophomore forward Nico Nobili, posting up for a right-hand layup with 2:44 remaining. His layup marked the game’s first points in over six minutes. 

Jones called timeout. BU was in a six-and-a-half-minute scoring drought. It had connected on just one of its last 15 field goal attempts. 

The Terriers needed a lifeline. Kyrone Alexander answered. 

Out of the timeout, Alexander buried a contested corner 3 in front of the BU bench to put the Terriers ahead 61-60. 

That 61-60 score held entering the final minute. BU had possession up with 49.2 seconds remaining, looking to drain the clock and pad its lead. But as Brewster tried to initiate a late shot clock offense, Lehigh’s freshman guard Cam Gillus poked the ball away. It found the hands of Whitney-Sydney. 

The two guards broke out in transition, looking to set up a 2-on-1 fastbreak against Brewster. Whitney-Syndey passed ahead to Gillus who went up for the go-ahead layup. But BU senior forward Anthony Morales flew in for a chase-down block, pinning the ball against the glass. 

“He’s different,” Jones said. “He’s a guy that we depend on to make those athletic plays. Those are, those are big.” 

After the rejection from Morales, Lehigh was forced to foul, sending Okwuosa to the line with 18.5 seconds remaining. 

Okwuosa missed his first shot, before hitting the second to give BU a 62-60 advantage. 

One stop and a couple of made free throws were all that BU needed. 

But Whitney-Sydney (20 points) drove past Okwuosa and got to the rim for a game-tying layup with six seconds left. 

“He’s a terrific player,” Jones said. 

It all led up to that final play. Okwuosa’s game-winning reverse layup to beat the buzzer. The play of the season. 

It was a thrilling, almost improbable win, snapping a five-game Lehigh win streak in the process. 

“Hopefully, they’re able to kind of understand what it takes to be a really good team and you gotta be able to go on a road and win, you know, win a dogfight like we did tonight,” Jones said.

Four Terriers finished in double figures. Alexander had 18, Brewster had 15, sophomore forward Otto Landrum tallied 12, and Okwuosa tacked on 11. 

“Absolutely pleased with that,” Jones said. “It’s a credit to our guys. You know, in terms of sticking with it.” 

“We’re doing a better job of searching out, searching out better shots overall.”

BU now has one final game in the regular season. A Saturday noon tip-off against Holy Cross (9-21, 6-11 PL) at Case Gym. With a win, BU will secure a top-four seed in the Patriot League Tournament, granting a home game in its quarterfinal matchup. 

“If you can make foul shots, you defend and rebound, and you pass the ball to the open man. Those are the ingredients for a good team and we, we do that,” Jones said. 

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