December 2, 2008

Winless Weekend for Terrier B-Ball Teams

Men fall to Mount St. Mary's, women to Central Michigan

By BU Athletics

Carlos Strong led BU in both points (18) and rebounds (6). Photo courtesy of BU Athletics

Men's Basketball
Led by a season-high 18 points from Carlos Strong (MET'10), the Boston University men's basketball team made a bid for its third come-from-behind victory of the young season, but Mount St. Mary's Jeremy Goode hit six critical free throws down the stretch to lead the Mountaineers to a 78-69 victory on November 29 at Knott Arena.

With the loss, the Terriers' three-game winning streak snapped, dropping them to 3-2. The defending Northeast Conference champion Mountaineers improve to 2-2 after winning their home opener and the first-ever meeting between the two teams, both celebrating their 100th season of men's basketball this year.

Goode led all players with 23 points, and Markus Mitchell had the game's lone double-double, with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Jean Cajou and Shawn Atupem had 16 and 11 points, respectively. On BU's side, three other Terriers scored in double figures: John Holland (CGS’09), with 17 points, Corey Lowe (MET’10), with 16 points, and Jake O'Brien (CGS’10), with 11 points. Besides leading the team in scoring, Strong also had a team-high six boards.

After a 13-5 run by the Mount to start the game, Strong led a 11-2 BU rally with two of his three 3-pointers and an assist on Lowe's trey to give the Terriers a one-point edge, 16-15, at 13:20. About five minutes later, O'Brien made a layup to tie BU's largest lead of the game with three points at 24-21.

At 2:30, Goode made two free throws to give the Mountaineers their biggest lead of the first half, 40-30, but Holland hit his first trey of the game to bring the deficit down to seven before the teams entered the locker room.

The Mount shot 51.6 percent from the field on 16 of 31 attempts; BU was 12 of 30, with six of the made attempts coming from behind the arc. O'Brien and Strong combined for 24 of the Terriers' 33 points.

Like in the Bucknell game, where the Bison hit over 50 percent of their shots in the first stanza and then made only 16 percent in the second, head coach Dennis Wolff made the necessary halftime adjustments to hold the Mountaineers to just 33 percent the rest of the game.

Trailing by as much as 12 early in the second half, BU eventually tied the score at 62-62 on Holland's layup at 5:44. Holland had an opportunity to give the Terriers the lead just moments later after a missed three-pointer from Cajou, but he was called with a charge while driving to the basket.

The Mount responded by scoring the next five points en route to the win off a trey by Kelly Beidler and then a fastbreak layup by Goode that was a result of one of his team-leading three steals. BU could whittle the deficit down only to four before eventually resorting to fouling.

St. Mary's was 5-for-5 from the charity stripe in the first half and went 17 of 22 in the second for the win, while the Terriers made their job more difficult by finishing only 15 of 25 from the line.

BU lost the battle under the basket, with the Mountaineers outrebounding the Terriers, 46-29, and scoring 34 points in the paint against BU's 16. Both teams committed nine turnovers each.

The Terriers shot 38.6 percent (22 of 57) from the field, 37 behind the arc off 10 of 27; the Mount finished the game at 43.1 (25 of 58).

Up next for the Terriers is the conclusion of their three-game road trip with a visit to rival Harvard on Wednesday, December 3, with an 8 p.m. tipoff time. BU returns home to Agganis Arena on Saturday, December 6, to host Conference USA's Marshall.

Women's Basketball

The Boston University women's basketball team dropped an 84-72 decision to Central Michigan on November 30 on the final day of the Buckeye Classic in Columbus, Ohio. The Terriers got double-figure scoring from Jesyka Burks-Wiley (CGS'07, CAS’09), who scored 20 points, Christine Kinneary (CAS'09), with 18 points, and Amarachi Umez-Eronini (SAR'09), with 15 points, as the squad fell to 3-4 on the young season and the Chippewas improved to 4-2 overall.

Umez-Eronini was 4 for 12 from the field and 7 for 9 from the free-throw line to go along with 10 boards for her first double-double of the season. Kinneary scored 14 of her 18 points in the second half.

BU was 21 of 25 from the free-throw line, with Burks-Wiley leading the way with a 6 for 6 performance from the charity stripe. The Terriers forced the Chippewas into 15 turnovers and scored 26 points off those miscues.

The Chippewas opened the contest racing out to a 12-4 advantage four minutes into the game and briefly enjoyed a 10-point lead, 18-8, at 12:45. But 15 seconds later, two made free throws from Umez-Eronini erased the double-digit deficit, and a trey from Kat Briggs (ENG'11) brought BU to within 5 points, 18-13.

After coming as close as 3 points, 23-20, Central Michigan pushed the lead back up to 6, capitalizing on Terrier turnovers with back-to-back jumpers. BU came roaring back with under a minute to go in the first stanza to tie the game at 34, before CMU closed out the half with layups from Sherryia Armstrong and Latisha Luckett. At the break, Umez-Eronini led all players with 10 points, backed by a 6-for-8 showing from the free-throw line.

To start the second half, CMU came out strong, opening on a 13-6 spurt to jump out to an 11-point lead and stretching it to as much as 17, 60-43, with 13 minutes remaining in the contest.

CMU maintained its double-figure lead over the next 10 minutes, but the Terriers came to within 9 points, 73-64, on two made free throws from Burks-Wiley with 4:37 remaining. The Chippewas hit six free throws down the stretch, however, and knocked down two jumpers to close out the scoring at 84-72.

In a post-championship ceremony, Kinneary was named to the all-tournament team.

BU will return to Case Gym on Wednesday, December 3, for a 7 p.m. matchup with Ivy League foe Brown.