{"id":36825,"date":"2023-02-19T12:29:11","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T17:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=36825"},"modified":"2023-02-19T12:29:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T17:29:11","slug":"mens-basketball-coach-joe-jones-wins-200th-game-behind-dominant-second-half-vs-bucknell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/02\/19\/mens-basketball-coach-joe-jones-wins-200th-game-behind-dominant-second-half-vs-bucknell\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Basketball: Coach Joe Jones wins 200th game behind dominant second half vs. Bucknell"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Cover Photo Credit: Stevie Potter<\/em><\/p>\n

BU Head Coach Joe Jones won his 200th game with Boston University Men\u2019s Basketball (13-16, 6-10 PL), defeating the Bucknell Bison (11-18, 4-12 PL) 77-61 at Case Gym after a 46-point second half performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Down four points at halftime, the Terriers made six 3-pointers and shot 57.1% from the field in the second half to outscore the Bison by 20 and secure Jones\u2019 200th win with the program.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat [200 wins] just speaks more about the University supporting me for this long and the people that have supported us and been there for us,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAnd then our players and their families that took a chance to come and play for us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it says a lot about those people more than it does about me,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones\u2019 roster includes three graduate students who have spent at least five seasons with the program \u2014 Fletcher Tynen, Jonas Harper, and Walter Whyte \u2014 who led the way for the Terriers, each finishing as double-digit scorers and combining to contribute 42 total points.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have had opportunities to move and they decided to come back,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThey feel like people here care.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harper and Whyte were key contributors down the stretch of the second half, leading a Terrier run that reached 12-0 with 2:18 left to play. Harper kick-started that game-clinching run, making two 3-pointers in less than a minute to give the Terriers an eight point lead with under five minutes left.<\/span><\/p>\n

A couple of minutes later, after a Whyte layup and another three, the Terriers\u2019 lead had ballooned to 16 with 1:11 left.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAny open shot, you just gotta think it\u2019s going in,\u201d Whyte said. \u201cWhether we\u2019re showing a great [3-point] percentage or not, you got to stick the open ones and shoot it with confidence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Whyte and Harper each credited their late-game heroics to the support from their teammates and coaches. The second of Harper\u2019s two 3\u2019s late in the second-half brought the entire Terrier bench to their feet, and after the ensuing timeout, the bench was fully emptied to meet Harper at mid-court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA special thing about this team is that we all want to see each other do really well,\u201d Harper said. \u201cWe\u2019re all really excited for [each other] and I think that carries on to how we play.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terriers struggled to contain the Bison\u2019s size in the paint to open the game \u2014 led by 7-foot-1 center Andre Screen (11 points) and forward Andre Timmerman (13 points) \u2014 conceding 14 points in the paint in the first 9:35 of the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, after a series of defensive adjustments, the Terriers didn\u2019t allow another basket in the paint for the rest of the half and held Bucknell to 16 points in the paint over the rest of the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe went zone [on defense] and that helped us. They weren\u2019t able to get the ball inside as much,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe tried to blitz some ball screens and we double-teamed them inside a little bit, just to try to keep them off balance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Defensively, the importance of playing as a team was again emphasized by Whyte and Harper.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially on the defensive side, if we\u2019re really connected and cheering for each other, then we\u2019re going to make stops in crunch time,\u201d Harper said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Off the bench, junior wing Anthony Morales was another critical piece to the Terriers\u2019 win, routinely finding ways to get into the paint offensively in his 14 minutes on the floor, finishing with seven important points.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMorales was terrific,\u201d Jones said. \u201cHe really gave us a big boost and he probably should\u2019ve played more than he did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After losing back-to-back heartbreakers on the road, the Terriers returned home and finally finished, taking their first lead of the game with 8:27 left in the second half and never looking back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLast game was, I\u2019m not gonna sugarcoat it, a pretty tough loss,\u201d Harper said. \u201cBut I think that\u2019s the luxury in this thing, you can focus on the next day and try to improve every day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to click right now and hopefully that transitions into the next game, and so on,\u201d Harper said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

With two games left in the regular season before the Patriot League tournament, including a trip to West Point to take on Army on Wednesday at 6 p.m. the Terriers are peaking at the right time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to turn a corner,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSometimes it doesn\u2019t show in the win column, but we\u2019re playing better.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re right there,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan Cover Photo Credit: Stevie Potter BU Head Coach Joe Jones won his 200th game with Boston University Men\u2019s Basketball (13-16, 6-10 PL), defeating the Bucknell Bison (11-18, 4-12 PL) 77-61 at Case Gym after a 46-point second half performance. Down four points at halftime, the Terriers made six 3-pointers and shot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21477,"featured_media":36142,"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\/36825"}],"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\/21477"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36825"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36829,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36825\/revisions\/36829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}