ALBANY, N.Y. - Senior forward Rashad Bell (Queens, N.Y.) led four Terriers in double-figure scoring with a game-high 23 points, pacing Boston University to a 72-69 America East road victory over the University at Albany in men's basketball action on Sunday, Jan. 2.

B.U. improves to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in America East play, while Albany falls to 5-6 and 1-1. The Terriers have won all of the seven meetings between the two schools.

In addition to Bell's 23 points, junior forward Kevin Gardner (Palos Verdes, Calif.) had 16 points, senior guard Chaz Carr (Manchester, Conn.) had 12, and freshman guard Matt Wolff (Walpole, Mass.) finished with 11.

After the two teams played to a 25-25 tie at the half, the Terriers opened the second frame on a quick 8-0 run to take a 33-25 edge. Albany recovered, outscoring the Terriers, 10-2, over the next two minutes to again tie the score at 35-35with 15:43 on the clock. Gardner led the charge early in the second half, scoring 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the half.

Albany's Jamar Wilson was equally as hot from the field midway through the second half, scoring seven straight points for the Great Danes and keying an 8-0 Albany run that gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 45-39 with 12:31 remaining.

Just as quickly, however, an alley-oop layup from junior guard Shaun Wynn (Brooklyn, N.Y.) to Bell capped a 7-0 B.U. run and to pull the Terriers to within one at 46-45. The two teams battled back and forth for the next few minutes, but the Terriers pulled ahead on an alley-oop layup by Matt Wolff and a three-pointer by Carr that gave B.U. a 55-50 lead at 8:10.

The lead grew to as many as seven points at 62-55 after a Wolff right baseline trey and again at 64-57 after a pair of Gardner free throws with 4:18 to go.

A dunk by freshman forward Tony Gaffney (Berkley, Mass.) with 1:00 remaining gave B.U. a 70-64 lead, but the Terriers had to survive a Brent Wilson top-of-the-key three-pointer and a late Albany offensive flurry to secure their second conference road win of the season.

B.U. led for the majority of a tight first half that saw five lead changes and four ties. The Terriers had a pair of five-point leads early in the game, leading 7-2 and 9-4, but baskets by Albany's Levi Levine and Lucious Jordan and a three-pointer by Jamar Wilson gave the Great Danes an 11-9 advantage with 12:22 to go in the half.

B.U. took a 19-15 lead on a layup by Gardner with 5:46 to go in the half. Jordan tied the game at 23-23 with a three-pointer at 1:43, and the two teams went to the half tied at 25-25.

Bell lead all scorers at the half with 11 points.

Wilson led Albany with 21 points.

B.U., which has played eight of its last nine games on the road, opens a three-game homestand on Thursday, Jan. 6 when it hosts the University of Hartford at 7 p.m.