{"id":40552,"date":"2024-02-29T11:21:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T16:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=40552"},"modified":"2024-02-29T11:21:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T16:21:28","slug":"mens-basketball-brewster-okwuosa-combine-to-win-it-at-the-buzzer-as-bu-defeats-lehigh-in-overtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2024\/02\/29\/mens-basketball-brewster-okwuosa-combine-to-win-it-at-the-buzzer-as-bu-defeats-lehigh-in-overtime\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Basketball: Brewster, Okwuosa combine to win it at the buzzer as BU defeats Lehigh in overtime"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Henry Dinh-Price<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Six seconds on the clock. The score knotted at 62. One last possession for BU.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Miles Brewster caught the baseline inbounds pass with a head of steam. As he raced across halfcourt, two Lehigh defenders ran toward him. Brewster picked up his dribble and found a wide-open Ethan Okwuosa cutting to the rim. Okwuosa caught the ball in the paint and went up for a reverse layup. The ball rattled around, catching every piece of the rim, before falling through the net.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ball game. Terriers win 64-62.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Silence struck the Stabler Arena crowd as the Scarlet and White celebrated at center court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Brewster with the assist of the year, as Okwuosa beats the buzzer on a game-winning layup! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoBU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GoBU<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PLTop3?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PLTop3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SCTop10?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SCTop10<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/mNgL7OKMne\">pic.twitter.com\/mNgL7OKMne<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BU Men&#8217;s Basketball (@TerrierMBB) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TerrierMBB\/status\/1763010952855728625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 29, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe like to cut. Ethan\u2019s one of our best cutters,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI was teasing Miles that he wasn\u2019t passing the ball when he got to the paint. He did a great job and Ethan made a great cut.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU (13-16, 9-8 Patriot League) has now won four in a row. Four in a row. That statement would not have seemed possible just a couple of weeks ago. Before this win streak, BU had only won consecutive games once. It was 1-9 in games following a win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Terriers are clicking at the perfect time. With the win over Lehigh (12-16, 9-8 PL) on Wednesday, BU moved into fourth place in the Patriot League, its highest standing this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re playing our best,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ending was thrilling, but to even get to that point, the Terriers had to dig themselves out of a hole. BU trailed by as many as 12 points late in the first half and went into the break down 39-30.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI give a lot of credit to Lehigh. They were really hard to guard, especially in the first half,\u201d said Jones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lehigh junior guard Tyler Whitney-Sydney was the difference. He had 16 points on 5-for-6 shooting by halftime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fellow junior guard Keith Higgins Jr. hit back-to-back 3s giving Lehigh its first double-digit advantage midway through the half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTheir perimeter guys were really hurting us. Higgins made some shots. (Whitney-Sydney) made some shots,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s funny I didn\u2019t even realize that he had 16 in the first half. But I knew he played well.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lehigh was 14-for-29 from the field and 6-for-10 from 3 in the opening 20 minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But BU\u2019s defense shut them down after the break, holding the Patriot League\u2019s top-scoring offense (73.7 points per game) to 19 points in the second half.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lehigh failed to score a field goal for almost six minutes early in the half. An 8-1 BU run over that span brought it within two, trailing 45-43.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe just did a much better job hunkering down and guarding,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI think we can be one of the best defensive teams in the league when we\u2019re focused on the right things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lehigh stretched its lead back to five after Higgins buried a heavily contested midrange jumper to give the Mountain Hawks a 49-44 lead.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But BU answered with six straight points. Brewster had the first four before Okwuosa went coast to coast. His layup with 9:13 remaining gave BU its first lead since the 17:45 mark of the first half.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI thought he played really well offensively,\u201d Jones said of Okwuosa.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From there, BU and Lehigh went back and forth. Freshman guard Kyrone Alexander buried two free throws to put the Terriers ahead 58-56 with 4:10 remaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alexander shot 10-for-10 from the line, and as a team, BU made 18-of-20 free throws.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019ve been shooting it better, knock on wood. We\u2019ve been shooting it better from the free-throw line,\u201d Jones said. \u201cStanding up there and stickin\u2019 \u2018em.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senior forward Dominic Parolin (18 points) answered with a hook shot in the lane that rattled home. His game-tying shot with 3:48 remaining marked the last points of regulation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The final minutes of the second half were filled with shots that clanked off the iron. Neither team could find a go-ahead basket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI thought both teams were really tired,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI thought we were gassed. I thought they were gassed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The misses continued to mount in overtime.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was until Parolin got the better of sophomore forward Nico Nobili, posting up for a right-hand layup with 2:44 remaining. His layup marked the game\u2019s first points in over six minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jones called timeout. BU was in a six-and-a-half-minute scoring drought. It had connected on just one of its last 15 field goal attempts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Terriers needed a lifeline. Kyrone Alexander answered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out of the timeout, Alexander buried a contested corner 3 in front of the BU bench to put the Terriers ahead 61-60.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That 61-60 score held entering the final minute. BU had possession up with 49.2 seconds remaining, looking to drain the clock and pad its lead. But as Brewster tried to initiate a late shot clock offense, Lehigh\u2019s freshman guard Cam Gillus poked the ball away. It found the hands of Whitney-Sydney.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The two guards broke out in transition, looking to set up a 2-on-1 fastbreak against Brewster. Whitney-Syndey passed ahead to Gillus who went up for the go-ahead layup. But BU senior forward Anthony Morales flew in for a chase-down block, pinning the ball against the glass.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe\u2019s different,\u201d Jones said. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that we depend on to make those athletic plays. Those are, those are big.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the rejection from Morales, Lehigh was forced to foul, sending Okwuosa to the line with 18.5 seconds remaining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Okwuosa missed his first shot, before hitting the second to give BU a 62-60 advantage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One stop and a couple of made free throws were all that BU needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Whitney-Sydney (20 points) drove past Okwuosa and got to the rim for a game-tying layup with six seconds left.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHe\u2019s a terrific player,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It all led up to that final play. Okwuosa\u2019s game-winning reverse layup to beat the buzzer. The play of the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a thrilling, almost improbable win, snapping a five-game Lehigh win streak in the process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cHopefully, they\u2019re able to kind of understand what it takes to be a really good team and you gotta be able to go on a road and win, you know, win a dogfight like we did tonight,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four Terriers finished in double figures. Alexander had 18, Brewster had 15, sophomore forward Otto Landrum tallied 12, and Okwuosa tacked on 11.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAbsolutely pleased with that,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIt\u2019s a credit to our guys. You know, in terms of sticking with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe\u2019re doing a better job of searching out, searching out better shots overall.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BU now has one final game in the regular season. A Saturday noon tip-off against Holy Cross (9-21, 6-11 PL) at Case Gym. With a win, BU will secure a top-four seed in the Patriot League Tournament, granting a home game in its quarterfinal matchup.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf you can make foul shots, you defend and rebound, and you pass the ball to the open man. Those are the ingredients for a good team and we, we do that,\u201d Jones said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Henry Dinh-Price Six seconds on the clock. The score knotted at 62. One last possession for BU.\u00a0 Miles Brewster caught the baseline inbounds pass with a head of steam. As he raced across halfcourt, two Lehigh defenders ran toward him. Brewster picked up his dribble and found a wide-open Ethan Okwuosa cutting to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23098,"featured_media":40489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1026,1027,19],"tags":[1129,1131,69,1145,1914],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40552"}],"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\/23098"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40553,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40552\/revisions\/40553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}