Feb. 1, 2014
Box Score | Highlights | Coach Jones' postgame comments
BOSTON - Despite having a game-high 25 points from senior D.J. Irving and 10 made 3-pointers, the Boston University men's basketball team fell to Lehigh in overtime, 82-80, on a last-second layup Saturday afternoon at Agganis Arena.
Avenging last month's one-point defeat (67-66) in which Irving hit two game-winning free throws with 1.9 seconds left in regulation, the Mountain Hawks improve to 12-11 and 5-5 in the Patriot League, while the Terriers drop to 15-8 (8-2 PL).
Irving went 10-of-17 from the field to match his season high previously set in the 83-77 win at Maryland. Classmate Dom Morris totaled 17 points with a game-high eight rebounds to become the 33rd Terrier in the program's 105-season history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. Sophomore John Papale added 13 points, as both he and freshman Cedric Hankerson drained three 3-pointers apiece. Sophomore Maurice Watson Jr. was just shy of his third double-double of the season with nine points and seven assists.
A preseason Patriot League All-Conference honoree alongside Irving, Mackey McKnight had the ball under his basket with nine seconds left after Morris tied the game, 80-80, on a free throw. Finishing with 16 points and seven assists, he brought it up the court and drove left toward the basket before nailing the layup over Morris and Watson with 0.5 seconds remaining. Forwards Tim Kempton and Jesse Chuku recorded 18 and 11 points, respectively, while Justin Goldsborough tallied 11 points off the bench.
The overtime contest marked the fourth of the season for the Terriers with all of them occurring at home. BU fell to Norfolk State (86-82) and Harvard (79-68) before beating Army, 86-81, on Wednesday. Coincidentally, Lehigh entered the game winning both of its overtime contests on the road.
The Mountain Hawks trailed 72-69 with 1:22 left in regulation when Papale drained a 3-pointer from the corner. McKnight went straight to the hoop 20 seconds later to cut the deficit to one. After Morris went 1-of-2 at the line, McKnight again went for a layup but missed it. Lehigh grabbed two offensive rebounds before Chuku was fouled.
Chuku hit both of his free throws to put the game at 73-73, giving the Terriers 15 seconds on the clock to avoid back-to-back overtimes. The Hawks guarded the perimeter and forced Irving to take a step-back 3-point attempt that hit the back rim and bounced away as the buzzer sounded.
Lehigh jumped out to its largest lead of the game, 78-73, on a 3-point play by McKnight and a layup by Kempton at 3:04 in the extra session. The Terriers though dug in and responded with a 6-0 spurt over the next minute behind a Watson free throw, Irving jumper and Papale 3-pointer.
On the ensuing possession, Kempton missed a contested layup. Morris tried to extend BU's lead to three with 39 seconds remaining but his layup attempt had an unlucky bounce and rolled off the rim. McKnight took advantage by getting to the hoop for the 80-79 advantage.
Morris was fouled going for the putback after he hauled in Irving's missed layup with 10 seconds remaining. He went 1-of-2 at the line, hitting the second shot. McKnight then ended the game with his successful drive to the hoop.
The Terriers shot 29-of-66 (.439), including 10-of-22 (.455) from behind the arc. They outscored Lehigh in both second-chance points (13-8) and points off turnovers (17-15) but were undone by a poor 12-of-22 (.545) performance at the charity stripe.
They were also unable to get the necessary stops against the Mountain Hawks in the second half after entering the locker room ahead, 41-26. Lehigh came out energized with a 13-4 run highlighted by two Chuku 3-pointers.
Irving responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 12 at 15:30. Hankerson hit one of his own at 11:22 to put the Terriers ahead, 61-50. The Hawks though scored seven straight points over the next three minutes and took its first lead (66-63) at 5:12 on Cvrkalj's trey.
During Lehigh's 16-2 come-from-behind rally, the Terriers went 1-of-4 from the field and 0-of-2 at the line while committing four turnovers. BU was down but not out, grabbing the lead back on consecutive layups by Watson and Irving.
Chuku nailed his third 3-pointer of the game at 3:38 to put the Hawks ahead, 69-67. Morris tied the game one minute later on a strong move under the basket, setting up the a thrilling final 120 seconds of regulation.
Lehigh shot 60.7 percent in the second half and ended the game 32-of-61 (.525) with five 3-pointers and 13 free throws on 18 attempts (.722).
Now two games behind league leader American (10-0 PL) and one contest ahead of Army (7-3 PL), the second-place Terriers will next travel to Navy (2-8 PL) on Wednesday (Feb. 5) for a 7 p.m. match-up.
