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By: Liam O’Brien<\/p>\n
At the conclusion of the season’s opening week, the Boston University men’s basketball team has already played the two toughest squads they will play before Patriot League play.<\/p>\n
It’s hard not to be impressed with the way the Terriers (1-1) have stacked up to some stiff competition.<\/p>\n
After coming back to defeat Northeastern, 77-74, on Tuesday night after entering the contest as 14-point underdogs, BU narrowly fell to America East favorite Vermont, 78-72, in their home opener on Friday night at Case Gym.<\/p>\n
“We split the two games but I thought we showed a lot of fight in both games,” said junior forward Max Mahoney, who led BU with 18 points and eight rebounds. “A lot of bright spots that we can build on.”<\/p>\n
Despite giving heavy minutes to some inexperienced underclassmen, the Terriers are playing with plenty of confidence.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t really know what to expect,” said Mahoney. “We have a lot of new guys, didn’t really know how they’d mesh. I think they have done a great job.”<\/p>\n
The freshmen have provided big buckets for the Terriers over the first two games. Against the Huskies, forward Jordan Guest knocked down a critical three-pointer to bring BU to within two points of Northeastern late before forward Fletcher Tynen swished a pair of foul shots to seal the deal.<\/p>\n
“[Guest] has done a great job of pursuing the ball,” Mahoney said. “It’s going to pay off eventually, I keep telling him that. Just keep going and making plays and doing what you can do to keep you on the floor.”<\/p>\n
Tonight, it was first-year guard Jonas Harper blowing by his defender and finishing with contact to give the Terriers a 47-40 lead in the second half. It was guard redshirt freshman Alex Vilarino sprinting past the Catamounts (1-0) defense on the fast break, getting to his spot in the middle of the lane, a soaring for a silky right-handed floater to put his team up 10 points against a perennial 20-game winner with 13 minutes left in the game.<\/p>\n
While the end result was less than desirable, the Terriers were impressive all game long and had the contest in their control. With 13 minutes remaining, BU found themselves with a 5-44 lead after a tip-in by Tynen.<\/p>\n
“They have a great frontcourt,” Catamounts junior forward Anthony Lamb, who exploded for 19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and three steals said. “Their bigs played really hard and they gave me a battle all night. If you’re working the whole game, it shows how well-coached you are and how much you care. They are working hard.”<\/p>\n
The Catamounts (1-0) made their run, surging ahead to take a 61-58 advantage with eight minutes to go. But, BU did not back down. They took hold of the contest and went on a 8-0 run punctuated by a beautiful transition sequence which culminated in a three-pointer by junior forward Tyler Scanlon off a feed from sophomore point guard Javante McCoy.<\/p>\n
“We knew, especially after the Northeastern game with them winning, that we were going to face a really tough team tonight,” Vermont redshirt senior guard Ernie Duncan, who scored 18 points, said. “Probably one of the harder-playing teams we will play all year. We knew coming in it was going to be an absolute battle, coming into their place and trying to get a win.”<\/p>\n
Both Northeastern and Vermont are teams expected to be in the conversation on Selection Sunday. If the Terriers can hang with these teams, a deep postseason run is not out of the question.<\/p>\n
“They have a really good program,” Lamb said.<\/p>\n
These are the types of performances that can light the fire under a team and enhance their confidence. If BU is pushing Vermont down to the wire in a loud environment, why can’t they do the same against Patriot League favorites like Bucknell and Lehigh?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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