Feb. 9, 2010

Final Stats | Video Highlights

BOSTON - John Holland and Carlos Strong led the Boston University men's basketball team with a combined 48 points, but Vermont made a layup with 9.4 seconds remaining along with a defensive stop to earn a 76-75 victory at Agganis Arena on Tuesday night. In a contest that featured 10 ties and six lead changes in the second half, the Terriers drop to 13-12 and 8-5 in league play, while the Catamounts improve to 18-8 (9-3 AE).

Following Evan Fjeld's score, BU brought the ball up the court, but after receiving a pass from Tyler Morris, Corey Lowe dribbled the ball off his foot outside the 3-point line for the team's costly ninth turnover with four seconds remaining. Vermont kept the ball away on a deep inbounds pass to avoid being fouled and ran out the clock for the win.

Named BU's America East player of the game, Holland went 10-for-16 and 3-for-6 from beyond the arc to finish with 29 points, while Carlos Strong had a solid performance, shooting 8-for-13 to put 19 on the scoreboard. Holland also had a team-high seven rebounds, and Tyler Morris posted eight points, five rebounds and a career-high seven assists. Jake O'Brien was the third Terrier in double figures with 11 points.

Also named AE player of the game, Marqus Blakely recorded a double-double off 21 points and 12 rebounds. The Catamounts had three others finish in double figure scoring, including Joey Accaoui (14), Maurice Joseph (12) and Nick Vier (11). They edged the Terriers in rebounds, 37-35, and lost the ball only six times against BU's nine turnovers.

BU shot 60 percent from the field during the second half after making just 36.7 percent of its attempts in the first to finish 29-for-60 (.483), and Vermont went 28-for-61 (.459) after hitting 52 percent in the second. Both squads made big shots, as the game went down to the wire, but the Terriers didn't help themselves at the line, going 3-for-10 (.300) outside of Holland's 6-for-6 performance. The Catamounts on the other hand finished 15-for-19 (.789).

Trailing by as many as 11 in the first half, the Terriers went into the locker room down, 38-32, and battled back in the second to take a 48-46 lead with 13:10 remaining off a layup from Strong. The game then went back and forth with multiple lead changes.

Vier drained a 3-pointer at 3:00 to give UVM a 71-68 lead, but Holland immediately responded with a trey of his own to tie the game for the 13th and final time. The Terriers got the defensive rebound off a missed Blakely layup, and Holland drove to the hoop for the two-point lead.

BU found itself ahead 75-71 with 1:05 remaining when Carlos Strong poked the ball away from Joseph and then fed Tyler Morris, who flew to the basket and hit a layup while drawing the foul.

However, he missed his only free throw attempt of the night, and Vier followed with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one with 52 seconds left.

On the ensuing possession, Holland missed a contested jumper in the paint, and after a called timeout, the Catamounts took the lead for good when Blakely rifled a pass near the corner to Fjeld, who was cutting inside, for the layup.

Suffering its fifth one-point loss to Vermont in a series dating back to 1921-22, BU drops to 51-41 and is now 2-3 in games this season decided by five points or less.

The Terriers will next host Hartford on Saturday (Feb. 13)  at Case Gym with tip-off set for 4 p.m.