Feb. 25, 2009
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BOSTON - Seeking its 1,000th win in program history, the Boston University men's basketball team hosts Maine on Thursday at The Roof with tip-off set for 7 p.m. The Terriers (15-12, 9-5 AE) enter the game hoping to gain momentum for the America East tournament as the No. 3 seed, while the Black Bears (9-18, 4-10 AE) look to move up the standings and avoid the #8/#9 play-in game.
In the last meeting between the two teams back in January, the host Maine built up an 18-point lead, 29-11, with eight minutes left in the first half. Led by freshman Jake O'Brien's then career-high 24 points, the Terriers rallied and cut the deficit to seven, 38-31, entering the locker room at the half. BU eventually went on a 25-9 run in the second to pull out a 73-62 victory at Alfond Arena to extend its series lead to 53-38.
That victory was the fourth straight during an eight-game win streak for the Terriers. They lost the next three but then got back on track with a victory over Iona in last weekend's ESPNU Bracketbusters game. John Holland tallied a game-high 24 points, as he now has 490 points on the season and a team-leading 18.1 scoring average.
With 10 more, he will become just the second player under head coach Dennis Wolff to reach 500. Only the program's career-leading scorer, Tunji Awojobi, has accomplished the feat. He had 525 of his 2,308 points in his senior year after recording 658 as a junior in 1995-96.
Corey Lowe is second on the team in scoring at 16.6 ppg but has also been an important facilitator, averaging 4.0 apg on the season. O'Brien is the other Terrier in double figures at 12.4 ppg, though Scott Brittain has 11.5 ppg along with a team-leading 6.4 rpg in conference action. Holland, Lowe and O'Brien have combined for 199 of the team's 239 made 3-pointers, which is the new record for a season. The previous mark was set last year at 232.
Maine enters the contest with the top 3FG defense in the league at 31.1 percent and will need to perform well, as the Terriers average a 36.4 percent clip from beyond the arc. The Black Bears are only 3-10 on the road with their last victory away from home coming at Stony Brook, 64-54, back on Jan. 8. They are 1-7 in their last eight games with the lone victory coming against Hartford, 68-63.
Mark Socoby leads the team in scoring at 12.9 ppg, while Gerald McLemore is close behind at 12.1 ppg. Sean McNally averages 9.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg while also recording 1.3 blocks per game. In the last meeting, Socoby had 16 points along with five boards, while McNally had 10 points and eight rebounds. Junior Bernal, who averages 7.4 ppg and 4.1 rpg, had a productive game with eight points and seven rebounds.
The Terriers conclude their three-game homestand on Sunday with Hartford at Agganis Arena. Before the 3 p.m. tip-off, the team and athletic department will honor Marques Johnson, Sam Tully and Matt Wolff as part of the Senior Day festivities.
