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BOSTON - Down five with 17 seconds remaining, the Boston University men's basketball team missed by the slimmest of margins a game-tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer in a hard-fought 74-71 loss to defending Patriot League regular season champion Bucknell on Saturday afternoon in Case Gym.

With the win, the Bison improve to 10-9 and 7-1 in conference action, while the Terriers fall to 10-11 (3-5 PL) after playing their third game in six days.

Bucknell was in position to grab the win with seven seconds left when Ryan Frazier was sent to the line following senior John Papale's second 3-pointer of the contest. Leading by two, he had previously made his first six free throw attempts but clanked on the seventh shot to give BU hope. After Frazier drained the second shot, the Terriers pushed the ball up the court quickly to Papale, who got his defender jumping too soon before letting go of the ball at the buzzer. Unfortunately, the shot was just short, hitting the front end of the rim for the loss.

Senior Nathan Dieudonne posted his second double-double of the week behind a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead BU, while sophomore Nick Havener had a career-high 12 boards with seven points. Both junior Eric Fanning and sophomore Cheddi Mosely tallied 12 points apiece, as the Terriers finished the game 22-of-53 (.415) and 7-of-19 (.368) from behind the arc.

Stephen Brown went 8-of-10 from the field to lead the Bison with 21 points, five rebounds, four assists and three critical second-half steals. Zach Thomas came off the bench for 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds, while Ryan Frazier and Nana Foulland recorded 11 and 10 points, respectively. Bucknell shot a stifling 66.7 percent in the second half to finish the contest at 25-of-50 (.500) while going 3-of-14 (.214) in 3-point territory.

Fans attending the contest were hoping to see a matchup of two Patriot League preseason All-Conference honorees in BU's Cedric Hankerson and Bucknell's Chris Hass, but both men were out due to injury. The Terriers jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead behind a pair of Dieudonne buckets and extended the lead to 17-5 with 10:37 remaining in the half on Fanning's jumper.

Junior Blaise Mbargorba extended the lead to 17 points (26-9) three minutes later with a layup, but John Azzinaro came right back with one of his own to ignite a 11-0 run capped by Dom Hoffman's layup at 4:12.

Azzinaro cut the deficit to three (28-25) at 2:25 on a 3-pointer, but the Terriers held on to the lead and entered the locker room ahead, 32-27. Both squads had eight turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action, but BU owned the better conversion rate with 15-7 advantage in points.

The first half only featured 11 total free throw attempts and 18 fouls, but the second half had a combined 44 attempts and 35 fouls, allowing Bucknell to help slow down the pace. The Bison had zero fastbreak points in the first half and would tally 10 in the final 20 minutes of action to complete the rally.

The Terriers owned a 48-40 lead with 12:36 left on junior Dylan Haines' 3-pointer, but Thomas hit one in response. Following a free throw by Foulland, Brown scored on a pair of fastbreak layup attempts with one coming off a BU turnover to tie the game, 48-48, for the first time at 10:24.

Brown had another steal and layup at 5:51 to help the Bison overcome a four-point deficit and tie the game for the second time, 56-56. His third steal and layup at 2:21 prevented the Terriers from retaking the lead, as Bucknell pulled ahead, 65-62. The Bison shot 7-of-8 from the line in the final 40 seconds to hold on for the victory. 

BU will next conclude the first go-round in the Patriot League at Army West Point on Wednesday (Jan. 27) at 7 p.m.