Jan. 8, 2012
Box Score | Highlights
BOSTON - Committing a season-low five turnovers and seven fouls, the Boston University men's basketball team found its rhythm early and went on to earn a 68-49 victory over Binghamton at Case Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon. Holding an opponent below 50 points for the first time this season, the Terriers improve to 5-11 and 1-1 in conference play.
Named America East Player of the Game, senior Darryl Partin tallied a team-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting, while redshirt-freshman Malik Thomas came off the bench for 14. Making his first appearance on campus since Dec. 10, sophomore D.J. Irving recorded six points and more impressively eight assists against zero turnovers. Finishing with seven points, senior Patrick Hazel led the defensive effort with a team-high seven rebounds, as BU won the battle at the boards, 36-28.
Coming off a 60-54 loss against Stony Brook, the Bearcats (0-15, 0-3 AE) were led by Robert Mansell's game-high 21 points and Ben Dickinson's eight rebounds. While the two men went a combined 13-of-27 (.481) from the field for 33 points, the rest of the squad shot 6-of-25 (.240), as the Bearcats finished the night at 36.5 percent shooting.
Leading 15-10 with 9:39 remaining in the first half, BU went on a 14-5 run behind 3-pointers from Partin and Thomas over the next six minutes. The Terriers would head into the locker room ahead, 35-20, by enticing Binghamton into six turnovers, while holding a 19-12 edge in rebounds.
In the second half, Mansell cut the deficit to nine on a 3-pointer at 15:33, but senior Matt Griffin quickly pushed the lead back to double digits on the ensuing possession with a trey of his own. The Terriers would lead by as many as 27 (65-38) with 5:47 remaining in the contest.
BU finished the game 25-of-54 (.463) and 9-of-25 (.360) from behind the arc to earn its fifth straight victory against the Bearcats and improve to 17-5 all-time in the series.
The Terriers will next travel to Maine on Wednesday (Jan. 11) for a 7 p.m. tip-off before returning home for a two-game homestand, which will begin on Saturday (Jan. 14) against Stony Brook at 12 p.m. with ESPN3 broadcasting the rematch of the 2011 America East championship game.
