Dec. 22, 2009
Box Score | Video Highlights
BOSTON - John Holland and Jake O'Brien each scored 21 points to help the Boston University men's basketball team defeat Mount St. Mary's, 86-77, Tuesday night at Case Gym. With the win in a meeting between two preseason league favorites, the America East's Terriers (5-6) extend their winning streak to three games, while the Northeast Conference's Mountaineers (3-8) drop their sixth straight.
Tyler Morris added 17 points for the Terriers, while Corey Lowe posted 13 points along with a career-tying nine assists. BU shot 56 percent from the field, including 60.9 percent in the second half, and held Mount St. Mary's to just 39.3 percent shooting.
Jeremy Goode led the Mountaineers with 20 points and four assists. Kelly Beidler added 17 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Mount St. Mary's was strong at the line, going 28-for-34 (.824), but only managed seven assists against 19 turnovers. BU capitalized on the mistakes by scoring 26 points off turnovers, while just giving up 10 points.
Leading by as many as 12 (29-17) in the first half, the Terriers saw its advantage cut down to three (39-36) at 18:59 in the second following a quick 4-0 Mountaineer spurt out of the locker room, but O'Brien helped BU take control of the game with four consecutive points of his own to ignite a 19-5 run that was capped by Carlos Strong's 3-pointer at 12:16.
O'Brien followed with two made free throws at 10:08 to extend the lead to 19, 65-46, and The Mount could never cut the deficit below 11 the rest of the game until Tayvon Jackson made two free throws with seven seconds remaining.
Both squads started the game ice cold, shooting a combined 3-for-18 from the field, but the Terriers continued to press on and slowly build a 13-2 lead at 12:28 that was keyed by two dunks from Holland and a 3-pointer from O'Brien. Foul trouble was an issue for BU throughout the game, and the early fouls allowed its opponent to stay in the game, as The Mount scored six points at the charity stripe to cut the deficit to 13-10 at 10:37.
The Terriers responded with an 11-3 run that included a four-point play from Morris to push the lead back up to 11, with 7:31 remaining. Holland added a dunk at 5:41 to put BU ahead, 29-17, and hit a key jumper with 22 seconds remaining to give his team a 39-32 lead at the half.
Scoring 16 points off turnovers in the first half, the Terriers also had a 20-10 edge in the paint before finishing with a 32-26 advantage to even the all-time series with the Mountaineers at one game apiece.
Following the Holiday break, the Terriers will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 29, with a trip to Dayton in the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
