Men's Basketball Races Past UC Riverside 80-69
December 29, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Gardner was unstoppable during the early parts of the second half, as he scored 15 of the Terriers first 21 points. He would cool down after being charged with his fourth foul with 8:54 remaining, but his teammates picked him up, as the Terriers shot a season-high 57.9% for the game, including a blazing 70.4% (19-27) in the second half. BU established a season-high for points, as Corey Hassan had 17, Shaun Wynn had 11 and Omari Peterkin added 10. Rickey Porter led the Highlanders with 14 points while Houston Power had 11.
âÂ?oeKevin tried a bit too hard in the first half, but once he settled in in the first 10 minutes of the second half, he was dominant,âÂ?Â? said BU head coach Dennis Wolff, who earned his 197th victory as a Terrier.
After scoring just six points and fouling out in 25 minutes on Wednesday in front of several friends and family, Gardner, a native of Palos Verdes, Calif. (in the southern part of the state), started slowly against UCR as well. He had just four at halftime, but came out firing on all cylinders in the final 20 minutes. He had back-to-back dunks in the first three minutes to expand the BU lead to nine, 42-33. Two strong post moves by Gardner kept the Terrier lead at nine, 48-39, but the Highlanders ripped off an 8-0 run to close within one, 48-47 with 10:47 remaining.
Peterkin, who made the first start of his collegiate career âÂ?" on his 22nd birthday, no less âÂ?" ended the Terrier drought with a spin move in the paint, which ignited an 11-1 run. Gardner had five points âÂ?" including a three-point play âÂ?" in the spurt and Ibrahim Konate ended the explosion with a thunderous dunk. When the smoke had cleared, BU had its largest lead to that point, 59-48 with 7:59 remaining. The Terrier advantage would grow to as large as 16 in the frenetic second half, and UC Riverside would get no closer than the final margin of 11.
BU handed out a season-high 26 assists, led by a career-high eight from Brian Macon and seven from Wynn. The Terriers were a bit shorthanded, as freshman center Ben Coblyn did not dress after spraining his ankle on Wednesday.
âÂ?oeBrian and Shaun were fabulous,âÂ?Â? added Wolff. âÂ?oeConsidering the pressure they faced and the style of play we were up against. I thought their decision-making was terrific.âÂ?Â?
The Terriers exploded out of the gate, as Hassan hit three straight three-pointers and Wynn added one to give BU a 12-5 lead less than four minutes in. The Terriers expanded the lead to 20-10 three minutes later as Wynn converted a conventional three-point play and Gardner and Peterkin scored from inside the paint. However BU would grow cold and go over five minutes without a basket, as UC Riverside went on a 13-2 run to take a 23-22 lead. The Terriers responded and scored the final six points of the half to take a 34-29 lead advantage into the halftime locker room.
BU continues its seven-game road swing on Monday when the Terriers open the new year at Holy Cross. Game time is 7 p.m., and the contest can be heard on 1150 AM WTTT or at www.goterriers.com
