{"id":37068,"date":"2023-03-03T12:48:10","date_gmt":"2023-03-03T17:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=37068"},"modified":"2023-03-03T12:48:10","modified_gmt":"2023-03-03T17:48:10","slug":"mens-basketball-terriers-lose-overtime-heartbreaker-to-army-in-patriot-league-quarterfinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2023\/03\/03\/mens-basketball-terriers-lose-overtime-heartbreaker-to-army-in-patriot-league-quarterfinals\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Basketball: Terriers lose overtime heartbreaker to Army in Patriot League Quarterfinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Cover Photo Credit: Jacob Ireland<\/em><\/p>\n

Boston University Men\u2019s Basketball (15-16, 8-10 PL) couldn\u2019t outlast Jalen Rucker and the Army West Point Black Knights (16-15, 10-8 PL), falling 71-69 in overtime of the Patriot League Quarterfinals to end their 2022-23 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

With 25 seconds left in regulation, graduate wing Walter Whyte couldn\u2019t secure the rebound off a missed Army 3-pointer, and Rucker was there to drain an open second-chance deep ball to tie the game at 59. Minutes later, Rucker\u2019s layup with 1:03 left in overtime gave the Black Knights their first lead in almost 20 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonas Harper\u2019s missed hook shot with 30 seconds left and missed corner 3-pointer with 10 seconds left both would\u2019ve re-tied the game in overtime, but Rucker\u2019s 32-point performance, including every Army point in the extra-period, was enough to send the Terriers home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had it at the end [of regulation], we just gotta get a rebound,\u201d BU Head Coach Joe Jones said. \u201cThen in overtime, they just made more a few more plays than we did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our chances,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coleton Benson kick-started the Black Knights\u2019 fast start, scoring nine points on the first three possessions of the game and finishing the first half with 16 points. But the Terriers stood firm, silencing Benson in the second half and overtime. BU allowed just one 3-pointer in the game\u2019s final 25 minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe second half became a defensive battle and that was our kind of game,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWe just had to get one last stop and we couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Rucker\u2019s individual brilliance kept the Black Knights in the game down the stretch of regulation, before his 12-point explosion in overtime put the Terriers away once and for all. His 32 points were three shy of a career-high.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Rucker] is an incredible player,\u201d Jones said. \u201cWhen the ball found him [on his game-tying three in regulation], I knew it was going in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best we\u2019ve had in the [Patriot League] since I\u2019ve been in the league,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whyte and Harper, in what was their last game at BU, combined for 31 points on 13-for-32 shooting. Whyte\u2019s 3-pointer with 3:01 left and Harper\u2019s acrobatic layup with 2:22 left in the second half both gave the Terriers a seven-point lead. After Rucker and the Black Knights stayed alive in regulation, neither graduate student could find the same magic in overtime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were trying to get Walt the ball [in overtime] and they were doubling him,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThen we had a couple of good looks and we missed them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with Whyte and Harper, graduate guard Fletcher Tynen played his last game as a Terrier, scoring 11 points. Each member of BU\u2019s graduate trio has spent at least five seasons with the program, using their extra year of eligibility as a result of COVID-19 to run it back with Jones one last time in 2022-23.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jones, normally intensely critical in his postgame press conferences, couldn\u2019t keep a smile off his face after the Terriers\u2019 season-ending loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFletch, Jonas, Walt, those guys gave us a chance to get into this game and have a chance to get to the semifinals,\u201d Jones said. \u201c[I\u2019m] emotional right now, especially with guys that you\u2019ve coached for so long and have been such a big part of your life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with the three graduates, six Terriers played their last game in red and white, including guard Ethan Brittain-Watts and forward Nevin Zink, both regular contributors for BU.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis group means so much to me,\u201d Jones said. \u201cJust the way the older guys conducted themselves, they never got down, they never stopped believing, they never stopped listening.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe young guys got a chance to see [from the older players] how you conduct yourself as a basketball player here at BU, those are valuable lessons,\u201d Jones said. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing I\u2019m most proud of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe could win a championship one day because of the way that Jonas and Walt and Fletcher and Nevin handled themselves this year,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

With their win, Army will look to upset two-time defending Patriot League Champions Colgate in the Semifinals on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Hamilton, New York.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sam Robb O\u2019Hagan Cover Photo Credit: Jacob Ireland Boston University Men\u2019s Basketball (15-16, 8-10 PL) couldn\u2019t outlast Jalen Rucker and the Army West Point Black Knights (16-15, 10-8 PL), falling 71-69 in overtime of the Patriot League Quarterfinals to end their 2022-23 season. With 25 seconds left in regulation, graduate wing Walter Whyte couldn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21477,"featured_media":36968,"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\/37068"}],"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=37068"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37071,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37068\/revisions\/37071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}