Boston University
15-7, 8-1PL
Army
10-10, 6-3PL
Terriers Triumph over Army in Overtime, 86-81
January 29, 2014 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2014
Box Score | Hankerson's postgame comments | Highlights
BOSTON - Senior D.J. Irving went a perfect 14-of-14 at the line and the bench produced a season-high 42 points to propel the Boston University men's basketball team past Army in overtime, 86-81, on Wednesday night at Agganis Arena.
Winning the first meeting between the two programs since 1994, the Terriers improve to 15-7 (8-1 PL), while the Black Knights drop to 10-10 (6-3 PL). Both teams finished with 23 turnovers apiece in a physical, up-tempo game that also saw a combined 32 fastbreak points. Army was 4-0 on the road in conference play, while BU was 4-0 at home before the match-up of two squads battling for second place in the league standings.
Trailing by one with 1:31 left, Irving went 8-of-8 at the charity stripe to finish with a team-high 22 points and hand BU its first overtime win of the season after dropping two back in December. Freshman Cedric Hankerson and junior Malik Thomas were big off the bench with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Hankerson drained a season-high five 3-pointers on just six attempts. Senior Dom Morris was one point shy of a double-double with 11 rebounds, while sophomore Maurice Watson Jr. recorded six assists and four steals.
Reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year Kyle Wilson hit four 3-pointers en route to 23 points. Dylan Cox contributed 19 points but lost the ball eight times. Josh Herbeck was the third Black Knight in double figures behind 15 points. Center Kevin Ferguson entered the game with a school-record 36 blocks and swatted away six more against the Terriers. Both he and Tanner Omlid recorded seven rebounds apiece, but BU still finished ahead in rebounding, 43-40.
The Terriers quickly opened the game with a layup by Watson and scored the next seven points, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Morris. They extended the lead to 17 (23-6) at 9:09 off two free throws from Thomas and used two more from Morris to enter the half leading 37-18.
BU shot 42.9 percent in the first half and held the Black Knights to 33.3 percent and just one made 3-pointer. Both teams were averaging 7.8 made 3-pointers per game before the game.
Army faced its largest deficit of the game with 17:50 remaining in regulation when Watson went straight to the hoop for the 45-23 advantage. After the teams exchanged baskets, Wilson used a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-0 spurt over the next 80 seconds with Herbeck draining one of his own at 15:30 to pull within 47-35.
The Black Knights continued to chip away at BU's lead and found themselves only down by four (63-59) at 5:28 on Tanner Plomb's dunk. Herbeck earned the assist after hitting the trey 30 seconds earlier.
Omlid and Cox continued Army's hot shooting with 3-pointers at 2:26 and 1:29, respectively, to tie the game at 70-70. On the next possession, Morris fed Irving for a tough jumper and two-point lead.
Watson then stole the ball away from Cox, but his attempted fastbreak layup was swatted out of bounds. With 30 seconds left in regulation, Army forced a turnover and tied the game (72-72) with a strong drive by Wilson at the 11-second mark.
Irving brought the ball up the court and waited until the final seconds began to tick away. He drove toward the paint and lifted a contested shot in the air that hit the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Thomas and Wilson exchanged 3-pointers to open the extra session. After a defensive stop, Wilson went 1-of-2 at the line to hand the Black Knights their first lead of the game, 76-75. Cox then stole the ball before losing it out-of-bounds trying to bring the ball up the court.
Irving drew a foul at 1:31 and swished both free throw attempts to give the Terriers the lead for good. Eight seconds later, he stole the ball from Cox and hit two more free throws to move ahead, 79-76. His hot shooting at the charity stripe did not end, as he nailed two more with 37 seconds left after Army's 23rd turnover of the contest.
Wilson though tried to mount another rally with a tough 3-pointer from the corner to cut the deficit to 81-79. Fouled immediately, Irving hit both free throws, but Cox responded with a quick layup to keep the lead at two (83-81).
Thomas received the in-bounds pass and would go 1-of-2 at the line, giving Army the opportunity to tie the game. Wilson missed two 3-point attempts, and following Ferguson's missed tip-in, Thomas grabbed the rebound with 0.6 seconds left. He hit both free throws to seal the victory.
The Terriers only hit one field goal in final five minutes of action but were an impressive 11-of-12 at the line. They shot 26-of-64 (.406) from the field and 24-of-29 (.828) from the charity stripe to claim their fourth straight victory and 10-6 lead against Army in a series dating back to 1954-55.
After shooting 57.6 percent in the second half, the Black Knights went 3-of-12 (.250) in overtime to finish 30-of-69 (.435).
BU will begin its second go-around in the Patriot League on Saturday (Feb. 1) by welcoming Lehigh to campus for the first time ever. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m. at Agganis Arena.
