Men’s Basketball: Terriers Continue to Struggle on the Road Against Holy Cross

Featured image by Matthew Wuschke

By Austin Rayamajhi

Boston University Men’s Basketball (12-13, 6-6 PL) took on the Holy Cross Crusaders Men’s Basketball (12-13, 4-8 PL) in a Saturday afternoon matinee, extending their road losing streak to six games after a 52-72 blowout. 

“We got outplayed,” said BU Head Coach Joe Jones. “I thought they came in, they were ready, great game plan, they executed at a high level. I thought the biggest thing was that they were making everything difficult for us.” 

This matchup comes on the flip of the schedule after both teams played against each other 12 days ago. The Terriers took the first matchup at home, so the Crusaders looked to respond on their own floor. 

The game got started with sophomore guard Joe Nugent hitting a three on the opening possession. Nugent, Holy Cross’ 2nd leading scorer, is currently shooting 43% from three. The basket for Nugent was the only one for the first couple of minutes as both teams tried to get into the game. 

Both teams began to trade baskets as they settled in. BU took an 8-7 lead with 16 minutes left in the first half. Unfortunately for them, this would be their only lead of the game. Holy Cross went on a 23-4 run over an 11 minute stretch in the first half to take control of the game. This run was spearheaded by their leading scorer, freshman guard Max Green. 

The Terriers did fight back, going on an 8-0 run near the end of the first half. They trailed by eight at the break. The difference early on was the shot making between both teams. Holy Cross shot 54% from the field, while BU was shooting just 36%. 

“Hard time, we had a hard time just doing anything,” said Jones. “The ball got stuck, we sold out and took tough shots, we didn’t play good team ball.”

The Terriers were able to keep it close in the first part of the second half. The Crusaders went up 10 before BU cut the lead to six. With 12 minutes left in the game, the Terriers cut the lead down to four. This was the closest BU would be for the rest of the game. 

The four point deficit turned into 16 as Holy Cross went on a 15-3 run with just over five minutes left in the game. The Terriers had no chance at this point, letting the game slip away, resulting in a 20 point loss. 

After being held to just 10 points on 2-8 shooting in their first matchup, Green bounced back with an efficient 18 point performance. He was not the only bounce back performer for the Crusaders as senior forward Caleb Kenney also contributed 12 points, double what he scored in the first game. 

The twenty point defeat is BU’s largest since they played at Colgate nearly a month ago, on January 11th. The Terriers could not generate easy looks, while the Crusaders were able to score 20 points off of 15 BU turnovers. They shot over 20% better than BU from the field, making 55.3% of their shots. 

“We gotta be able to play on the road,” said Jones. 

BU will hope to snap their road losing streak against Bucknell on Wednesday, February 12th. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.