Men's Basketball Loses Heartbreaker to UMass, 56-54
December 6, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Freshman Corey Lowe (Newton, Mass.) led the charge for BU with 16 points and a career-high seven rebounds. Senior co-captain Brian Macon (Boynton Beach, Fla.) was second on the team in scoring, with 13 points and three steals. Rashaun Freeman posted a double-double for UMass, with a game-high 20 points along with 12 rebounds.
The two teams traded leads for much of a grinding first half, each side relying on tight defense and patient offensive possessions. UMass had a 27-24 lead at the half after going on a nine-point run near the end of the first frame. The Minutemen used a 13-6 rally at the start of the second half to move out to their 12-point leads, but the Terriers chipped away for the rest of the game, cutting the UMass edge to two points with 58 seconds left. A Tyler Morris (Indianapolis, Ind.) three with four seconds left was negated by a called BU time out.
UMass was up 12 points, 44-32, at 12:00 in the second half after a layup by Freeman. But a jumper in the paint by Macon, a layup by Lowe and another Macon layup in the lane trimmed the advantage to five, 45-40, in favor of UMass at 8:02. The Minutemen ran their lead back to ten twice after that, once at 5:22 on a pair of free throws by Gary Forbes and again on a jumper by Chris Lowe at 4:33.
However, BU remained determined. The Terriers went on an 8-0 run over the final three minutes. Macon made 1-of-2 free throws at 4:09, and the lane was wide open for the senior guard and Lowe as the pair combined for six points in the paint during that rally. Red-shirt sophomore Ibrahim Konate (Bamako, Mali) made the second of two free throws for the final margin.
BU and UMass played swarming defense right out of the gate in a first half that featured five ties and four lead changes. Neither team got much of an advantage until the Minutemen were able to stretch out to five points, 11-6, after a 3-pointer by James Life at 13:37 and a Dante Milligan free throw at 12:54. But Macon took the lead right back for BU, sinking a three after a Morris steal. Morris gave the Terriers' their largest advantage of the game, 14-11, on a layup in the lane at 9:49. The Minutemen moved back out in front when Freeman converted a three-point play at 6:20 and stayed there for most of the rest of the half.
Lowe was named the America East Player of the Game for his performance.
The Terriers take a two-week break for final exams before returning to action on Friday, Dec. 22 when BU travels to Rhode Island to face the Rams at 7 p.m.
