Men’s Basketball: The Terriers Fall Short to the Chargers in an Overtime Thriller
Featured Image By Alex Chen
By Jane Guay
Late Saturday night, the Boston University Men’s Basketball team (4-6) suffered an unfortunate loss against the New Haven Chargers (3-7), falling short 82-89 in overtime. After working hard to catch up late in the first half, the Terriers ultimately couldn’t keep their momentum to finish off the night.
This matchup started off shaky from the beginning, with the Chargers starting with a 9-0 run in just the first three and a half minutes of the game. With that being said, the Terriers were able to climb their way back into the running with a score of 14 to 15, thanks to freshman forward Sam Hughes’s second three-pointer of the night within less than ten minutes of the half. Hughes has started in the Terriers’ last six matchups after scoring nine points, one assist, and one block off the bench against Northwestern on November 7th.
Junior guard Michael McNair followed this in the eleventh minute with his own second three-pointer of the game, bringing the Terriers up to 21 to the Chargers’ 25. Continuing to be able to drive up the Terriers’ points not even just over a minute later with another layup, McNair proved to be essential to the team from the start to the unfortunate finish. He has been proving this all season, averaging 16.3 points, 2.4 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.3 steals.
The Terriers were able to pull themselves past the Chargers after thirteen minutes, which ultimately led to a more successful first half, where Donte Tsinger Jr.’s three-pointer was just what they needed to build further momentum. This momentum continued throughout the entirety of the first half, after four lead changes and a huge advantage in three-point-making ability, with the Terriers scoring 58.3% from the arch as opposed to the Chargers’ 23.1%. This especially came from players like McNair, Tsinger, and Hughes. Just in the first half alone, Hughes was able to tally four three-pointers, twelve points total, to the points column for the Terriers.
“We honed in on a game plan well… We have a lot of good offensive players,” Coach Jones stated in a post-game interview.
The second half started with what looked to be a potential blowout performance by the Terriers, with Hughes hitting his fifth three-pointer of the night to extend the team’s lead to 20. This extended lead was also a huge thanks to sophomore guard Azmar Abdullah’s ability to drive up the ball, putting the ball in the basket with four two-point baskets made, one of which extended the team’s lead to 25 with just over 10 minutes to go.
After that layup is where this team truly started to crumble. The Chargers were able to start this long stretch just how they started the game, with a 9-0 run in just over five minutes. Rather than relying on two or three players, the Chargers had a collective effort, with more of a teamwork mentality to finish out the game on top. Key players that contributed to the team’s final 89 points, specifically junior guard KiJan Robinson, scored 21 points off the bench out of the 37 points that came from the bench itself. This is opposed to the Terriers’ 13, where it really ended up showing how much certain players can be relied on in these games.
“We got to be able to break pressure,” Coach Jones said regarding what the group needs to improve on.
The Chargers continued this momentum with Robinson’s three-point buzzer beater to finish regulation and then send the matchup into overtime. The Terriers ended the final minute of overtime with foul play, to ultimately fall short to the Chargers 82-89.
“It’s a game that you have to learn from… You have to take it and own it.” Coach Jones further stated how to take this loss to build the team’s confidence for the rest of the season.
The Boston University Men’s Basketball team will return to “The Roof” this coming Wednesday, December 10th, to face the Maine Men’s Basketball team at 7 p.m. Streaming will be available on ESPN+ and NESN.