{"id":29554,"date":"2022-01-13T22:59:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T03:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=29554"},"modified":"2022-01-13T22:59:49","modified_gmt":"2022-01-14T03:59:49","slug":"mens-basketball-terriers-out-toughed-by-army-in-73-63-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2022\/01\/13\/mens-basketball-terriers-out-toughed-by-army-in-73-63-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Basketball: Terriers ‘out-toughed’ by Army in 73-63 loss"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Jonas Harper attempts a layup versus Binghamton University Dec. 4, 2021. The Terriers fell to Army West Point 73-63 on the road Thursday. JOE EACHUS\/ WTBU SPORTS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Mitch Fink\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Army men\u2019s basketball (10-7, 4-1 PL) to establish an identity of relentless defense and energetic play in its 73-63 victory over Boston University (11-7, 2-3 PL) on Thursday evening in West Point, New York.<\/p>\n

On BU\u2019s first offensive possession of the game, the Black Knights played 30 seconds of tenacious perimeter defense and perfectly timed rotations, ultimately forcing the Terriers into a difficult contested three-point attempt at the end of the shot clock.<\/p>\n

The possession represents much of what the Black Knights\u2019 defense was able to do successfully against the Terriers \u2014 force BU to play at a fast pace and put up difficult looks.<\/p>\n

BU head coach Joe Jones put it simply postgame: \u201cWe got out-toughed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey played at a whole other level in terms of their energy and effort,\u201d he added. \u201cThey just beat us in every aspect of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Terriers finished the game shooting just 39.3% from the field, and 31% from behind the arc.<\/p>\n

The Black Knights maintained a lead through much of the first half and took a seven-point advantage into the half, but BU hit timely shots to remain within reach.<\/p>\n

Army finally began to pull away in the second period. A three-pointer by sophomore guard Jalen Rucker extended the Black Knights lead to 14 points five minutes into the second half.<\/p>\n

The Terriers battled to keep the deficit around 10 points, but they were unable to put a run together to make the game truly close.<\/p>\n

Fifth-year guard Javante McCoy drained a shot from long range to cut Army\u2019s lead to eight points with 24 seconds left in the game, but it wasn\u2019t enough for BU. The Black Knights coolly knocked down two pairs of free throws to ice the game and emerge with the victory.<\/p>\n

After a hot start to the season, BU has found little success in conference play. The Terriers, now five games into their conference schedule, have now dropped three of their last four contests.<\/p>\n

Although BU holds one of the highest overall records in the Patriot League, the Terriers have dropped into sixth place in the conference after their recent struggles.<\/p>\n

McCoy led BU with a game-high 23 points and knocked down four three-pointers. The preseason Patriot League Player of the Year has drastically improved from long-range this season. McCoy is shooting 48% from three-point range on 4.4 attempts per game after shooting just 31% from distance last season.<\/p>\n

Senior forward Walter Whyte pitched in 14 points and Fifth-year forward Sukhmail Mathon added 9 points and 11 rebounds, but the Terriers lacked production from other parts of their roster.<\/p>\n

BU\u2019s bench scored just eight points, while Army\u2019s reserves combined to score 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the season started, we needed to find more bench production. That was a big point of contention, and we haven\u2019t been able to do that,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIn practice, we need to have guys step up and show that they deserve to play minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Terriers will travel home to Case Gym for a rematch with Navy on Sunday afternoon. BU dropped its conference road opener to the Midshipmen, 83-71, in Annapolis on Jan. 4.<\/p>\n

Jones called the matchup a \u201cbig game,\u201d noting that the Terriers will need to rebound better and limit the scoring of Midshipmen standout John Carter to capture the victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to compete much harder in all facets of the game,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mitch Fink\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long for Army men\u2019s basketball (10-7, 4-1 PL) to establish an identity of relentless defense and energetic play in its 73-63 victory over Boston University (11-7, 2-3 PL) on Thursday evening in West Point, New York. On BU\u2019s first offensive possession of the game, the Black Knights played 30 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20133,"featured_media":29312,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1027,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29554"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29554"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29555,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29554\/revisions\/29555"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}