Hot-Shooting Terriers Upend Crusaders, 61-49
December 1, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Neither team came out shooting the ball well in the opening half, as the two teams swapped small leads a number of times. Holy Cross (2-3) made just 6-of-25 shots in the half, but trailed by only three points at the break thanks to a 7-0 advantage on the offensive boards.
B. U. made 8-of-17 first-half shots, and scored the last six points of the half on three-pointers by Collins and freshman point guard Chaz Carr (Manchester, CT). Carr's three-pointer came with just one second remaining on the clock and gave the Terriers a 23-20 lead at the half.
The Terriers opened the second half nearly perfect from the field, turning a three-point halftime lead into a 17-point advantage thanks to a 16-2 run in the first 4:17 of the half. The run was capped by a Collins' dunk off an assist from junior guard Matt Turner (West Haven, CT) that gave B. U. a 39-22 lead. The Terriers made 7-of-9 shots during the run.
Turner had eight points during the run, and finished with 13 points before leaving the game midway through the half with a separated shoulder suffered during a battle for a loose ball under the Holy Cross basket. The shoulder was set in the Terriers' locker room, but Turner did not return.
Collins took over for the Terriers from that point on, scoring all of the team's 12 points over the next 9:18.
"Collins has been our most consistent player in every game this year," Terrier head coach Dennis Wolff said. "Some of our guys have played well sporadically, he's played consistently in all six games."
B. U. committed its 10th team foul with 7:30 left in the game. Holy Cross made 9-of-11 free throws down the stretch, but the Crusaders could get no closer that 12 points the rest of the way.
"Holy Cross is a very good defensive team," Wolff said. "With all of the matching up and the switching in the first half, we ended up not getting any post-ups. We needed to start getting the ball into [Sophomore forward Ryan] Butt's hands in the middle. Once that happened, it opened everything else up."
After tallying no offensive rebounds in the first half, the Terriers managed only one in the second. Holy Cross outrebounded B. U., 20-1, on the offensive boards, and 42-27 overall. The Crusader took 13 more free throws than the Terriers in the game.
Just as large a discrepancy could be found in the teams' field goal percentages. B. U. finished 23-for-43 from the field (a season-high 53.5 percent), and Holy Cross was only 12-for-56 (a season-low 21.4 percent).
Sophomore forward Jason Grochowalski, from nearby Shrewsbury, MA, finished with seven points and five rebounds. Holy Cross was led by junior Tim Szatko's 14-point, 10-rebound effort. He also went 10-for-12 from the free throw line.
The Terriers are in the midst of a six-games-in-17-days stretch, and host Harvard on Tuesday, Dec. 4 at Case Gymnasium. Game time is 7 p.m.
