Boston University
13-17
Lafayette (PL Quarterfinals)
18-12
Lafayette Eliminates BU in PL Quarterfinals, 89-64
March 5, 2015 | Men's Basketball
EASTON, Pa. - The fifth-seeded Boston University men's basketball team featured four Terriers in double figures and only committed seven turnovers but was unable to contain No. 4 Lafayette's hot-shooting offense in an 89-64 Patriot League quarterfinal loss on Thursday night at the Kirby Sports Center.
Entering the contest with the nation's 25th-best field goal percentage (47.8%) and the conference's top scoring offense (73.8 ppg), the Leopards advance to the semifinals at 18-12, while the Terriers end their season at 13-17.
Sophomore and 2015 All-PL Second Team member Cedric Hankerson tallied nine points in the first seven minutes to help BU grab an early 14-4 lead but would finish with five the rest of the contest for a team-high 14 points. Classmate Eric Fanning came off the bench with 12 points, while junior Justin Alston recorded 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Nathan Dieudonne was the the fourth Terrier in double figures at 10 points.
The Leopards also owned the nation's 10th-best 3-point shooting percentage (40.2%) and hurt the Terriers with 16 treys on 29 attempts. All-PL Third Team member Nick Linder drained five of them to finish with a game-high 23 points and dished out five of Lafayette's 22 assists. Fellow third team honoree Seth Hinrichs added 18 points and eight boards, while unanimous All-PL First Team award winner Dan Trist posted a double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds) along with five assists and three blocks. Joey Ptasinski and Bryce Scott were the other two in double figures at 15 and 14, respectively.
Down 14-4 with 13:14 remaining in the first half after Fanning's 3-pointer, Hinrichs hit a short jumper to ignite a 20-2 run capped by Lindner's trey at 9:03. All-PL Rookie Team member Cheddi Mosely responded with one of his own, but Lindner found Bryce Scott for another bomb.
The Terriers eventually slowed down Lafayette with a couple of stops and used back-to-back Alston layups to pull within one (30-29) at 4:09. The Leopards though added two more 3-pointers down the stretch to enter the locker room ahead, 40-34.
Improving to 9-0 at home in PL tournament games, Lafayette carried the momentum from the first half performance with a 22-4 run to open the second and never allowed the Terriers back into the contest.
The Leopards finished 36-of-57 (.632), including 16-of-29 (.552) from behind the arc, while BU shot 22-of-55 (.400) and 8-of-22 (.364), respectively. Lafayette won the battle at the boards, 32-25, and outscored the Terriers off turnovers, 15-9.
After playing the nation's 33rd toughest non-conference strength of schedule and extending its streak of .500 or better conference records to 15 seasons (tied-11th nationally), the Terriers led by fourth-year head coach Joe Jones will now recharge and regroup for 2015-16 with everyone returning.
Hankerson had the third largest jump in scoring in program history from 6.0 to 15.9 ppg after the Terriers lost 67.3 percent of its offensive production from last year's 24-11 and regular season champion squad. Junior John Papale, who ranks tied-for-fifth all-time at BU with 192 3-pointers, became more of a ball handler this season with the return of just 15.7 percent of the team's assists from a year ago and posted an assist-turnover ratio of 2.55, third best mark in program history.
Alston made great strides as well, more than doubling his offensive production from his first two years combined and shooting 57.1 percent from the field, 10th best mark in a season. Dieudonne ended the year second in the PL in rebounding at 7.4 rpg after averaging 3.4 and 4.7 rpg his first two seasons.
Highlighted by three 20+ point performances, Fanning reached double figures in 10 of the team's last 11 games, while Mosely scored in double figures 10 times after hitting the mark three times in non-conference play.
