Jan. 7, 2014

Box Score | Highlights

BOSTON - Hosting Navy for the first time in program history, the Boston University men's basketball team held the Midshipmen to their lowest point total since 1943 in a 55-32 victory on Tuesday night at Agganis Arena. With their third straight win, the Terriers (10-6, 3-0 PL) become the first in the Patriot League to reach 10 victories, while the Midshipmen drop to 6-8 (1-2 PL).

With the score tied at 3-3, the Terriers scored 10 consecutive points and only briefly saw the lead cut to six before coasting to the win. Sophomore Maurice Watson Jr. had a game-high 11 points with six rebounds and six assists. Senior D.J. Irving nearly had a double-double with nine points and seven boards, while classmate Dom Morris hauled in a game-high eight rebounds. Freshman Cedric Hankerson and sophomore Nathan Dieudonne were the other two in double figures at 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Finishing 11-of-53 (.208) from the field, Navy was led by Grant Vermeer's seven points. The Mids entered the game as the league's top rebounding team at 36.4 rpg with a positive 2.5 rebound margin but came up short against the Terriers, 41-39. BU converted Navy's 12 turnovers into 14 points and only allowed 10 points to be scored in the paint.

In the modern era dating back to 1951, Navy's fewest point total came against Minnesota in a 68-35 defeat on Dec. 27, 1974. The Mids last scored fewer than 32 points in a 33-21 loss to Penn State on Feb. 6, 1943.

After Dieudonne opened the contest with a 3-point play and Earl McLaurin's game-tying trey, Irving drained one of his own to give BU the lead for good. Junior Malik Thomas capped the 10-0 run at 14:00 with a long jumper.

Trailing 18-5 with 9:47 left in the half, the Mids went on a 7-0 spurt over the next three minutes with Brandon Venturini nailing a 3-pointer and scoring on a fastbreak layup. Navy could not carry any momentum though and finished the half 0-of-7 from the field, as BU pushed the lead back into double digits on Irving's trey with 41 seconds left to enter the locker room ahead, 25-13.

The Terriers were held to 9-of-25 (.360) shooting in the first half and came out strong in the second, opening with a 10-0 run jumpstarted by Watson's jumper and capped by his two free throws at 15:52.

With members of the 1959 NCAA Elite Eight squad that defeated Navy in the Sweet 16 in attendance, BU took its largest lead of the game (52-28) with 1:56 remaining in regulation on freshman Braiten Madrigal's first career field goal, a 3-pointer from the corner. The Terriers finished 20-of-52 (.385) from the field and earned their second 20+ point win of the season after a 91-65 home victory against UMass Lowell back on Nov. 13. BU committed just 10 miscues and improved to 3-0 all-time against Navy.

The unanimous Patriot League preseason favorites will resume the conference schedule on Saturday (Jan. 11) at Lafayette with action set to begin at 2 p.m.