BU Falls to UMass, 68-52
December 14, 2000 | Men's Basketball
It was the first men's basketball game played at Walter Brown Arena since December 6, 1997, a 61-53 loss to Alabama.
B.U., which falls to 5-3, did a nice job staying with the Minutemen for the first 10 minutes of the contest. Points were hard to come by in the opening minutes, but freshman Ryan Butt's (Lancaster, PA) layup gave B.U. an 8-6 lead with 12:13 left in the half. UMass went on a 12-3 run from that point, getting four points apiece from Ronell Blizzard, Kitwana Rhymes and Shannon Crooks to take an 18-11 lead with 5:58 left. The Terriers struggled to find open looks, hitting just 30 percent of their shots on 8-for-27 from the field in the first half. UMass led 30-19 at the break.
For their part, B.U. played some stingy D' of its own, as UMass shot only 38 percent in the first half.
Turner came to life in the second half, hitting a pair of threes to get the Terriers to within 10, 38-28, 3:30 into the half, but UMass was able to answer, never letting the lead getting smaller than eight points after that. This despite Turner's dunk which gave the crowd and team a brief momentum boost with 14:57 left in the game, cutting the lead to nine, 41-32.
The Minutemen spread their scoring out and were led by Rhymer's 10 points. Blizzard added nine points and 14 rebounds. UMass' leading scorer, Monty Mack, had a quiet seven points.
For B.U., Billy Collins continued to garner more minutes coming off a stress fracture in his foot and his play has warranted it. He added 11 points.
The Terriers will next face James Madison on "The Roof" next Thursday, December 21 at 7 p.m.
