Jan. 17, 2009

Final Stats

VESTAL, N.Y. - Reigning America East player of the week John Holland hit a career-high five 3-pointers en route to a season-high 28 points to lead the Boston University men's basketball team to an 81-64 victory over Binghamton on Saturday afternoon in the Events Center. With the wire-to-wire victory, the Terriers improve to 7-9 and 2-2 in conference play, while the Bearcats drop to 10-7, 3-2 AE, in a league that currently has seven teams with at least two wins and two losses early in the conference slate.

With the Terriers only leading 39-35 at the half, their America East player of the game, Holland, nailed all five of his treys in the first 13 minutes of the second stanza, including his final at 7:15, to give his team a 77-53 lead.

Corey Lowe was also hot from beyond the arc, hitting 4-of-6, to finish with 16 points. He and Matt Wolff contributed six assists each, and freshman Jake O'Brien posted a career-high nine rebounds with 10 points to fall just one board shy of a double-double.

With his strong offensive performance to help the Terriers earn their first road win outside Massachusetts since beating Bucknell in November, Lowe is now third all-time in the Terrier record book with 194 made 3-pointers, just nine shy of setting the record. He is also now 21st in scoring with 1,089 points, 10 below No. 20 Jason Grochowalski (`00-'04).

For Binghamton, AE player of the game Dwayne Jackson scored 13 points with Moussa Camara also contributing 13. D.J. Rivera, the No. 1 scorer in the league and 19th in the NCAA at 20.9 ppg, failed to hit one field goal in the first half and did not lead his team in scoring for the first time this season after finishing with a season-low 11 points off 3-of-11 attempts from the field. His previous low was 13 at Central Connecticut State back in November. Reggie Fuller entered the game averaging 7.3 rebounds but only managed two, as the Terriers outrebounded the Bearcats, 40-26.

The Terriers jumped out of the gate scoring the first 12 points with Holland capping the run with a throwaway dunk on a fastbreak following a rebound from Lowe. Moussa Camara finally put the Bearcats on the board with a trey at 16:23.

Following Jeff Pelage's made free throw at 9:39 that gave the Terriers a 26-16 lead, the Bearcats scored the next six points, including a trey from Malik Alvin, to cut the deficit to four. The game went back and forth until Binghamton whittled the lead to two, 33-31, when Rivera hit 1-of-2 free throws.

However, the Terriers pushed the lead to eight off two free throws from Lowe and two layups from Jeff Pelage to grab an eight point lead before entering the locker room ahead, 39-35.

Both Alvin and Lowe had a game-high 11 points, but the Terriers would prevent Alvin from scoring another point the rest of the way. They were 12-of-26 (46.2%) from the field, while Binghamton was 12-of-23 (52.2%).

To open the second, Scott Brittain scored the first two points off a dunk following a good lob pass over a defender form Wolff. Rivera hit a trey at 16:49 to keep Binghamton close behind, 47-43.

However, Holland and Lowe found their groove as they hit back-to-back 3-pointers to ignite a 23-6 run, during which time the Terriers showcased their athleticism with key plays including Wolff's fastbreak layup and Holland's fastbreak slam dunk.

For the third time in four games, they scored a season-high 30 points in the paint, while also finishing the game ahead in second-chance points, 17-16, after trailing Vermont, 18-2, on Wednesday.

Ahead 77-53 with 7:33 remaining, the Terriers did not hit another field goal until Sherrod Smith scored his first basket of the season off a layup with 19 seconds remaining, as the Bearcats ended the game with an 11-4 run to keep the deficit under 20.

The Terriers hit 27-of-53 attempts and 11-of-23 from 3-point land to record 50.9% and 47.8%, respectively, while Binghamton finished at 40.7% off 22-of-54 attempts after only hitting 32.3% in the second stanza. The Bearcats won the turnover battle, 17-12, but Dennis Wolff's squad had seven blocks and eight steals to prevent Binghamton from ever taking the lead.

Up next is a return to Case Gym on Monday, as the Terriers host Stony Brook with tip-off set for 3 p.m.