Nov. 18, 2008
Final Stats
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Boston University men's basketball team rallied from a 16-point deficit late in the first half to force overtime and then earn its first victory of the season with a 71-68 win at Bucknell on Tuesday night in Sojka Pavilion. Sophomore John Holland scored seven of his 12 points in the extra session, and junior Corey Lowe's jumper with 40 seconds remaining broke a 66-66 stalemate to give the Terriers the lead for good.
Boston University improved to 1-1 on the season, as the Bison dropped their home opener to fall to 0-2.
Lowe led all scorers with 19 points, while freshman Jake O'Brien continued his impressive play with 15 points in just his second career game. Senior Matt Wolff led all players with a career-high 13 rebounds, two more than his previous high of 11 set against Hartford last February at home.
The overtime contest, following the Terriers' 63-58 OT loss against George Washington last Friday, marked the first time since the 2006-07 season that they had back-to-back overtime games and the third overall during 15th-year head coach Dennis Wolff's tenure. The first occurrence happened in 1999-2000.
The Bison started the game strong, taking a 12-2 lead at 13:59. Justin Castleberry's three-pointer at 3:12 in the first gave the Bison their largest lead of the game at 40-24, but the Terriers whittled it down to 12 at the half, trailing 43-31.
Castleberry was 3-for-3 beyond the arc and had 17 points in the first stanza, but the Terrier defense would lock down on him, as he failed to record a single point the rest of the game.
O'Brien's 3-pointer at 16:20 in the second brought the Terriers within two at 44-42, but Bucknell quickly responded and built the lead back to nine at 51-42 off a jumper by Enoch Andoh with 14:40 remaining.
The Terriers tied the game for the first time at 6:27 when Lowe hit a three to put the game at 53 apiece. The contest remained tight the rest of the way, and the ball rested in the Terriers' hands with 22 seconds remaining with the score tied at 59.
With two seconds remaining, a foul was called on Castleberry after a scramble for the ball, in which Lowe had possession. Lowe was the hero for sending the first game against George Washington to overtime, but this time, he missed the key free-throw on the 1-and-1 to possibly win the game, as Bucknell grabbed the ball to go to overtime.
In OT, Bucknell made the first basket, but Holland kept it tied at 61 after making a steal and two critical free throws. He then made another jumper at 2:14 to tie the game at 63 and made a three-pointer at 1:23 to give BU a one-point lead at 66-65.
Zach Evans made 1-of-2 free-throws at :55 to tie the game for the last time. After Lowe's jumper, classmate Tyler Morris made two free-throws with 12 seconds remaining to give BU their largest lead of the game with four at 70-66.
The Terriers finished shooting 34.4 percent from the field, but more importantly 76.9 from the stripe on 20-of-26 attempts compared to the Bison's 12-of-20 performance. They also edged Bucknell in rebounds, 41-40, and had three fewer turnovers, 16-19.
Boston U. will next open The Roof on Saturday (Nov. 22) against St. Peter's, a team they defeated on the road last season, 67-64, as part of the BracketBusters pool. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.
